VEB'i'ER DAY  AND  TOD 


HUGH  SUTHERLAND 


IRELAND 

YESTERDAY 
AND  TODAY 


Photo  copyright,  1  =  09,  by  Hallen,  N.  Y. 

JOHN  E.  REDMOND,  M.  P. 
Chairman  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party. 


IRELAND 

YESTERDAY 
AND  TODAY 


By    HUGH  SUTHERLAND 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 
BY 

JOHN  E.   REDMOND,  M.P. 


•SSVW  TUH  10N1S3HO 

MMtun  393-noo  Noisoa 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN 

PHILADELPHIA 
1909 


COPYRIGHTED,  1909,  BY 
THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  CO- 
PHIL  ADEIJPHI  A. 


132018 


INTRODUCTION 


The  Irish  people  owe  much  to  America — more,  per* 
haps,  than  to  any  other  nation  in  existence.  The  friendship 
between  the  two  countries  has  been  of  long  standing.  The 
Irish  exiles,  driven  forth  by  the  exactions  of  landlordism  in 
the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  powerfully  con- 
tributed to  the  victory  of  Washington  and  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  republic  on  a  basis  of  strength  and  security. 
The  idea  of  the  Irish  Volunteers,  who  won.Grattan's  Parlia- 
ment, came  from  America.  In  the  "dark  and  evil  days"  of 
'98,  and  during  the  post-Union  struggles,  down  to  the  time 
of  the  Great  Famine,  Ireland  could  always  command  a  large 
and  generous  sympathy  in  America.  Whilst  the  British 
government  refused  to  recognize  the  extent  of  the  Famine, 
which  was  the  direct  consequence  of  British  misrule,  the 
American  government  forwarded  shiploads  of  food  and 
clothing  for  our  starving  people. 

When  the  Great  Clearances  swept  millions  of  our  race 
from  the  homes  of  their  fathers  and  doomed  them  to  emi- 
gration beyond  the  seas,  America  gave  them  a  welcome  with 
open  arms.  The  leaders  of  the  Young  Ireland  movement 
and  of  the  Fenian  movement  found  hospitality  and  help  in 
America.  And,  when  Parnell  appeared  upon  the  scene,  it 
was  America  that  hailed  him  as  the  deliverer  of  his  country 
and  gave  the  greatest  impetus  to<  his  success.  Since  then  the 
sympathy  and  support  of  America  for  Ireland  have  been 
never-failing. 

When  I  refer  to  America  in  this  connection,  I  do  not 
mean  merely  Irish-America,  from  which  Ireland  naturally 
expects  support,  both  sentimental  and  material.  I  mean 
America  as  a  whole,  the  thinking  men  of  all  parties  in  the 
republic,  whose  sympathy  constitutes  one  of  the  greatest 
assets  of  the  Irish  movement  for  national  self-government, 
because  it  is  morally  impossible  for  England  to  maintain  in 


vi 


INTRODUCTION 


Ireland  a  system  which  the  judgment  of  America  reprobates 
and  condemns. 

This  sympathy  of  America  has  been  made  manifest  in 
many  ways,  but  in  none  more  constantly  or  more  effectively 
than  in  the  public  press  of  the  country.  Some  of  the  greatest 
of  American  newspapers  have  been  steadfast  and  persistent 
champions  of  the  Irish  cause,  and  amongst  the  most  widely 
circulated  and  most  influential  of  these  great  molders  of 
public  thought  and  action  a  high  place  of  honor  must  be 
given  to  The  North  American,  of  Philadelphia,  the  reputa- 
tion of  which,  as  a  leading  exponent  of  American  ideals,  is 
not  confined  to.  the  United  States,  but  enjoys  a  recognition 
which  is  world-wide. 

Some  seven  years  ago,  when  the  Irish  movement  was 
passing  through  one  of  its  most  exciting  and  critical  stages, 
the  proprietors  of  The  North  American  sent  one  of  the  ablest 
members  of  their  staff,  Mr.  Hugh  Sutherland,  over  to 
Ireland  to  describe,  for  the  information  of  the  American 
people,  the  Irish  situation  as  he  found  it.  The  result  was  a 
series  of  brilliant  and  illuminating  articles,  which  attracted 
widespread  attention,  and  which  served  to  concentrate  Ameri- 
can interest  on  the  nature  and  the  importance  of  the  struggle 
which  was  then  taking  place  in  Ireland. 

Meantime,  the  Irish  cause  has  been  marching  on,  and 
the  effects  of  the  concessions  wrung  by  the  Irish  Party  from1 
the  British  Parliament  have  begun  to  make  themselves  appar- 
ent in  various  directions.  In  order  to  describe  these  effects 
and  to  strengthen  the  appeal  of  the  Irish  people  to  America 
for  a  continuance  of  its  sympathy  and  support  during  the 
final  stages  of  the  national  movement,  Mr.  Sutherland  was 
this  summer  again  deputed  by  The  North  American  to  visit 
Ireland  and  to  record  his  impressions  of  its  changed  condi- 
tion as  compared  with  that  when  he  previously  visited  it, 
and  this  he  did  in  a  second  series  of  letters  no  less  remark- 
able than  the  first. 

The  publication  of  these  letters  in  book  form  and  their 
wide  circulation  in  America  cannot  fail  to  be  of  enormous 
service  to  Ireland.  Without,  of  course,  binding  myself  to 
an  absolute  acceptance  of  every  opinion  expressed  in  the 
letters,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  stating  that  I  recognize  in 


INTRODUCTION 


Vll 


them  a  powerful,  eloquent  and  convincing  plea  on  behalf  of 
Ireland.  They  exhibit  a  thorough  and  comprehensive  grasp 
of  the  Irish  question  in  all  its  details,  historical,  political, 
moral  and  material,  and  for  these  reasons  I  heartily  com- 
mend this  volume  to  the  serious  consideration  of  American 
politicians  and  thinkers  of  all  parties  and  of  all  creeds. 


Aughavannagh,  Aughrim, 

County  Wicklow,  Ireland, 
November  12,  1909. 


PREFACE 


This  book  is  made  up  from  letters  written  by  the  Associate  Editor 
of  The  North  American,  of  Philadelphia,  and  published  in  that  news- 
paper in  1902  and  1909.  During  these  two  years  the  writer  visited 
Ireland  and  studied  the  conditions  which  have  given  rise  to  the  com- 
plex and  interesting  problem  known  as  "the  Irish  Question."  The 
volume  records  his  observations  at  these  two  periods. 

The  first  section,  "The  Problem  of  the  Land,"  comprises  the  let- 
ters of  1902.  The  second  section,  "The  Land  Problem  Solved," 
comprises  letters  on  the  economic  conditions  found  in  1909,  and  sets 
forth  the  wonderful  progress  made  in  seven  years  toward  accomplish- 
ing the  vast  and  intricate  task  of  replacing  landlordism  by  a  system 
of  tenant  proprietorship.  The  third  section,  also  written  in  1909,  is 
a  discussion  of  "The  Demand  for  Home  Rule." 

When  The  North  American  undertook,  seven  years  ago,  the  treat- 
ment of  these  matters  the  Irish  Question  was  little  understood  by 
Americans.  Generations  of  agitation,  marked  often  by  bitter  fac- 
tional strife,  had  even  dulled  public  interest  in  a  problem  affecting 
the  very  life  of  a  sister  nation.  Moreover,  the  American  press  had 
acquired  a  habit  of  ignoring  or  slighting  the  Irish  struggle  for 
justice.  This  avoidance  was  due,  first,  to  a  fear  of  arousing  secta- 
rian animosities,  and,  second,  to  indifference.  The  North  American 
had  no  such  fear,  having  confidence  in  the  good  sense  and  fairness 
of  American  public  opinion  when  rightly  informed,  and  felt  no  such 
indifference  toward  the  fate  of  a  people  bound  to  this  nation  by 
strong  ties  of  blood  and  sympathy. 

It  is  creditable  to  American  newspapers  that  to-day  they  discuss 
the  economic  problems  and  the  national  demands  of  Ireland  far  more 
freely  and  frankly  than  ever  before.  It  is  creditable  to  Great  Britain 
that  she  is  dealing  courageously  and  broad-mindedly  with  the  urgent 
needs  of  land  reform,  and  that  public  opinion,  even  in  England,  now 
indorses  the  century-old  demand  of  Ireland  for  self-government,  no 
less  than  five  hundred  of  the  six  hundred  and  seventy  members  of  the 
present  House  of  Commons  being  advocates  of  Home  Rule. 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  to  present  an  American  view  of  both 
economic  and  political  conditions  in  Ireland  seven  years  ago  and 
to-day,  partly  for  the  interest  such  presentation  may  have  for  those 


PREFACE 


ix 


of  Irish  blood  and  sympathy,  but  chiefly  for  the  information  of  the 
American  public  and  American  newspapers.  The  material  ha3  been 
gathered  through  personal  observation  of  conditions  and  personal 
examination  of  official  reports  and  records.  Beyond  this,  most  of 
the  proofs  have  been  read  by  government  officials,  and  the  facts  and 
figures  in  regard  to  the  government  works  may  be  accepted  as  ac- 
curate. For  the  comment  thereon,  of  course,  the  writer  alone  is 
responsible. 

The  historical  summaries,  particularly  those  referring  to  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  have  been  sharply  assailed  by 
readers  moved  by  religious  feelings;  but,  as  the  authors  quoted  are  in 
most  instances  of  British  birth  and  sympathies,  the  statements  can 
hardly  be  challenged  as  prejudiced  in  favor  of  the  Irish  view.  It  is 
impossible  to  treat  adequately,  in  a  few  pages,  the  history  of  seven 
hundred  years;  but  the  writer  is  satisfied  that  what  i3  written  is  true 
and  necessary  to  an  understanding  of  the  economic  and  political  con- 
ditions of  to-day. 

As  to  the  religious  factor,  this  is  discussed  somewhat  informally, 
but  quite  frankly,  in  the  "Postscript"  on  page  225u^_Jt__might  not  be 
a  bad  idea  to  read  the  postscript  before  reading  the  boofc>-. 

Authorities  consulted  by  the  writer  included  many  government 
records,  such  as  the  reports  of  the  Devon  Commission  (1845) ;  De- 
partment of  Agriculture;  Land  Commission;  Estates  Commission- 
ers; Congested  Districts  Board;  Local  Government  Board,  and  Irish 
Universities  Commission,  besides  the  numerous  Acts  of  Parliament 
dealing  with  land,  laborers,  local  government  and  education;  the 
speeches  of  Gladstone,  Bright,  Derby,  Redmond  and  other  leaders, 
and  the  writings  of  Bryce,  John  Richard  Green,  Goldwin  Smith, 
Lecky,  etc.    Valuable  material  was  gleaned  from  the  following  books : 

"The  Kingdom  of  Ireland"  (1887),  by  Charles  George  Walpole; 

a  history  to  the  time  of  the  Union. 
"Ireland  and  the  Empire"  (1901),  by  T.  W.  Russell,  Unionist  M.  P. 
"A  Hundred  Years  of  Irish  History"  (1902),  by  R.  Barry  O'Brien. 
"The  Fall  of  Feudalism  in  Ireland"  (1904),  by  Michael  Davitt. 
"Ireland  and  the  Home  Rule  Movement"  (1907),  by  Michael  F.  J. 

McDonnell. 

"Contemporary  Ireland"  (1908),  by  L.  Paul-Dubois;  an  exhaustive 
study  by  a  French  scholar  and  historian. 

"The  Making  of  Ireland  and  Its  Undoing"  (1909),  by  Alice  Stop- 
ford  Green  (Mrs.  John  Richard  Green);  an  impressive  histori- 
cal narrative  of  the  destruction  of  Irish  commerce  and  indus 
tries  by  legislation. 

"Dublin  Castle  and  the  Irish  People"  (1909),  by  R.  Barry  O'Brien; 
a  minute  and  authoritative  account  of  the  present  system  of 
government  in  Ireland. 

The  writer  is  glad  to  acknowledge  especially  the  courtesy  and 


X 


PREFACE 


aid  of  Mr.  Henry  Doran,  Chief  Land  Inspector  of  the  Congested  Dis- 
tricts Board,  whose  skill  as  an  administrator  and  tireless  devotion  to 
an  arduous  office  have  had  much  to  do  with  the  economic  transforma- 
tion in  the  most  unfortunate  parts  of  Ireland.  Acknowledgment  is  due, 
also,  to  John  Dillon,  M.  P.,  for  assistance  in  gathering  facts,  and  to 
John  E.  Redmond,  M.  P.,  Chairman  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary 
Party,  for  his  valued  and  effective  Introduction. 

One  word  more  may  be  permitted  in  regard  to  the  publication  of 
this  book.  Its  purpose  was  best  explained  in  a  letter  from  the  writer 
to  Michael  J.  Ryan,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  President  of  the  United 
Irish  League  of  America,  which  was  read  by  him  at  a  mass  meeting 
in  the  Academy  of  Music,  Philadelphia,  on  November  fifth,  1909. 
The  letter  was  as  follows : 

"I  regret  that  I  find  it  impossible  to  accept  your  invitation  to  appear 
at  to-night's  meeting.  ...  I  should  be  very  much  gratified,  how- 
ever, if  you  would  make  an  announcement  by  reading  this  letter  and 
adding  such  comments  as  may  occur  to  you. 

"A  very  strong  and  flattering  demand  has  been  expressed  that  the 
letters  upon  Irish  affairs,  published  in  The  North  American  in  1902  and 
1909,  should  be  put  in  book  form.  Though  the  interest  in  the  articles 
was  wide  and  their  effectiveness  in  spreading  information  upon  a  little 
understood  subject  has  been  generously  commended,  The  North  Ameri- 
can feels  that  their  preservation  in  permanent  form  will  have  more 
lasting  results.  This  thought  has  been  most  cordially  indorsed  by 
Irish  leaders  both  here  and  in  Ireland.  Mr.  Redmond  and  Mr.  O'Connor, 
among  others,  have  written  me  urging  the  publication,  and  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party  has  thought  it  worth  while  to 
write  an  introduction  for  the  book. 

"As  The  North  American  has  no  other  purpose  than  to  aid  in 
spreading  a  general  understanding  of  the  Irish  problem,  it  sought 
these  indorsements  before  attempting  the  publication.  Having  re- 
ceived them,  it  enters  cordially  into  the  project.     *    *  * 

"In  this  connection  I  wish  to  make  it  perfectly  clear  that  neither 
The  North  American  nor  the  writer  will  take  any  profit  whatsoever 
from  the  publication.  The  North  American  has  supported  the  Irish 
cause  because  this  newspaper's  policy  demands  the  advocacy  of  every 
movement  looking  to  liberty  and  good  government.  It  has  gone  much 
further  in  this  direction  than  any  other  newspaper,  because  it  is  con- 
vinced that  the  project  is  deserving  and  that  it  needs  persistent  cham- 
pionship in  order  to  win  for  it  that  without  which  it  would  fail — the 
public  opinion  of  America. 

"For  these  reasons  The  North  American  dedicates  the  forthcom- 
ing book  to  the  Irish  people,  and  cordially  offers  the  profits  to  the 


PREFACE 


XL 


advancement  of  the  cause.  All  who  purchase  t^e  book,  therefore,  and 
induce  their  friends  to  purchase  it,  may  have  the  satisfaction  of  know- 
ing that  the  proceeds  of  each  copy  sold,  above  the  bare  cost  of  publica- 
tion, will  add  to  the  funds  of  the  Irish  Nationalist  movement. 

"In  view  of  these  facts,  we  invite  you  and  all  other  officers  of  the 
League,  and  all  good  Irish  men  and  women,  to  do  what  you  can  toward 
distributing  the  volume,  and  making  it,  so  far  as  it  is  worthy,  an  Ameri- 
can textbook  of  Ireland's  progress  and  Ireland's  national  aspirations." 

In  regard  to  the  book,  the  writer  has  no  other  ambition  than  that 
this  hope  shall  be  realized. 

HUGH  SUTHERLAND. 

Philadelphia,  December  first,  1909. 


CONTENTS 

I.  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    THE  BEGINNINGS   1 

II.  THE  MAKING  OF  THE  PROBLEM       ...  11 

III.  WHAT  IRISH  LANDLORDISM  IS    .      .      .  .16 

IV.  EFFECTS  OF  LANDLORDISM       ....  21 
V.    VIEWS  OF  AN  AGITATOR   29 

VI.    LIFE  UNDER  LANDLORDISM       ....  40 

VII.    A  MAN  WHO  KNOWS   43 

VIII.    THE  HUMAN  SIDE   54 

IX.    SOME  OF  THE  RECORD   67 

X.    CONGESTION  AND  MIGRATION   ....  72 

XI.    THE  WAR  ON  LIBERTY   81 

XII.    WHAT  COERCION  IS   91 

II.  THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

XIII.  AFTER  SEVEN  YEARS   103 

XIV.  AN  EVICTION   118 

XV.    CONGESTION  REMEDIED   126 

XVI.    THE  BRIGHTENED  LAND   144 

XVII.    THINGS  SEEN   152 

XVIII.    A  REMNANT  OF  LANDLORDISM       .      .  .162 

XIX.    ONE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK   168 

XX.    EDUCATIONAL  REFORM  .       .       ...      .  .174 

XXI.  A  SUMMARY   .    181 

III.  THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 

XXII.  THE  CONQUESTS  OF  IRELAND   ....  185 

XXIII.  PENAL  LAWS   .  .197 

XXIV.  SOLD  OUT   203 

XXV.    THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY      ....  208 

XXVI.    MISGOVERNMENT   219 

XXVII.    DUBLIN  CASTLE   228 

XXVIII.    THE  SYSTEM  A  FAILURE   239 

XXIX.    HOME  RULE  TESTED   248 

POSTSCRIPT:  THE  RELIGIOUS  QUESTION     .  255 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


John  E.  Redmond,  M.  P  Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

How  Battering  Ram  Was  Used  in  Evictions   2 

Burned  Out:  Ruins  of  Houses  After  Evictions   10 

Evicted !    18 

Turf  Hut  Occupied  by  an  Evicted  Family   26 

A  Relic  of  Eviction  Days   34 

To  Be  Replaced  by  a  Decent  Home   34 

Battering  a  Breach  in  the  Wall   42 

A  Remnant  of  Landlordism   50 

Village  of  Lough  Glynn   50 

Pat  Tuohy  and  His  Jaunting  Car   58 

Better  Than  the  Old  Style   58 

Constabulary  at  an  Eviction   66 

Bernard  King  and  His  Stable  Home   66 

Map  Showing  Congested  Districts  Page  74 

FACIXG  PAGE 

A  Business  Street  in  Castlebar,  County  Mayo   74 

John   Fitzgibbon   82 

Improvements  on  Clare  Island   82 

A  Pretty  Irish  Cottage   90 

Spinning    90 

Part  of  a  Grazing  Estate  Divided  Into  Farms   98 

Family  Moved  From  This  House   106 

Now  Occupied  by  Family  That  Moved   114 

Battering  Ram  at  an  Eviction  in  Kerry,  1909   122 

Bringing  Home  the  Turf   130 

Henry  Doran,  Chief  Land  Inspector,  Congested  Districts  Board   138 

Foreman  Showing  Report  to  Mr.  Doran   138 

Tenant  Purchaser  Erecting  New  Home   146 

Not  Pretty,  But  Comfortable   146 

Drainage  Work  by  Congested  Districts  Board   154 

Father  O'Hara,  Instructing  Workman  (Mr.  Doran  at  Right)   162 


xvi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Making  a  Field:  The  First  Crop  of  Stones  Dug  From  the  Soil   170 

Royal  University,  Now  Part  of  National  University  of  Ireland   178 

A  Courtyard  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin   186 

College  Green,  Dublin:  Bank  of  Ireland  on  Left,  Trinity  College  on 

Right   194 

One  of  the  New  Houses   202 

Improvements  by  Tenant  Purchaser   202 

Coming  From  Market   210 

A  "Milkman"   218 

The  Captured  House  After  Kerry  Eviction   226 

Royal  Constabulary  at  Kerry  Eviction   234 

John  Dillon,  M.  P   242 

A  Relic  of  the  Past   250 

A  Home  of  Today   250 

Bank  of  Ireland,  Dublin,  Where  Irish  Parliament  Met,  1782— 1800. .  258 


THE   PROBLEM  OF 


THE  LAND 

I 

*THE  BEGINNINGS 

The  Irish  people  have  been  fighting  for  their  lives  and 
their  homes  for  seven  centuries,  and  to-day  few  but  them- 
selves know  the  history,  causes  or  present  rights  of  the  dis- 
pute. The  Irish  question  to  them  is  a  religion,  a  sacred 
struggle,  in  which  each  succeeding  generation  makes  sacri- 
fices. To  the  world  it  is  a  by-word  and  a  jest.  The  busy 
folk  in  Europe  and  America  run  to  and  fro  in  the  earth, 
spreading  liberty  and  civilization  according  to  their  own 
views.  Here  is  a  race  which  has  been  prostrate  for  a  hun- 
dred years,  a  land  from  which  the  people  are  being  driven 
remorselessly  by  the  effects  of  oppression  and  misgovern- 
ment.  Yet  the  world  is  indifferent.  This  heartless  acquies- 
cence is  not  due  to  intent,  but  to  ignorance.  How  many 
Americans,  save  those  of  Irish  birth,  know  the  meaning  of 
the  ceaseless  campaign  for  "free  Ireland"?  How  many 
believe  that  it  is  anything  more  than  a  game  of  politics? 
How  many  look  with  true  sympathy  upon  the  indefatigable 
Irish  obstructionists  who  more  than  once  have  stripped  the 
mighty  British  Parliament  of  its  dignity?  If  the  writer, 
before  coming  here,  possessed  average  knowledge  in  these 
matters,  then  the  general  ignorance  is  all  but  fathomless. 

♦Chapters  I,  II,  III  and  IV  were  written  in  Dublin  in  December, 
1902. 

I 


2 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


It  becomes  necessary,  then,  to  clear  away  the  mass  of 
misapprehension  which  obscures  the  Irish  problem.  An 
honest  effort  is  to  be  made  in  these  letters  to  enlighten  the 
American  people  in  respect  to  this  cause.  The  investigation 
will  be  thorough,  and  it  is  being  made  impartially  and  con- 
scientiously. In  general  terms,  and  briefly,  an  attempt  will 
be  made  to  establish  these  propositions,  of  which  the  writer 
has  convinced  himself: 

That  the  Irish  people  have  suffered  as  no  other  people 
have  suffered. 

That  they  have  been  the  victims  of  injustice,  oppres- 
sion, indifference  and  legislative  blundering  for  many  gen- 
erations. 

That  during  the  last  thirty  years  they  have  been  granted 
an  increasing  measure  of  justice  by  wise  statesmanship,  and 
will  gain  more. 

And,  finally,  that  the  world-wide  campaign  now  swing- 
ing on  toward  victory  is  not  rebellion  against  lawful  author- 
ity, but  the  peaceful  evolution  of  a  people  toward  that  liberty 
which  they  are  the  last  of  the  western  nations  to  receive. 

To  my  mjind,  only  two  things  are  necessary  to  turn 
public  opinion  overwhelmingly  in  favor  of  the  Irish  cause, 
and  public  opinion  is  the  reinforcement  by  which  these  people 
will  carry  the  last  breastworks  of  selfishness  and  prejudice: 
First,  knowledge  of  Irish  history;  second,  to  convince  the 
world  that  the  people  are  not  chronic  malcontents,  but  have 
a  cause  based  on  reason  and  justice. 

Let  the  appalling  story  of  Ireland  be  closely  read,  and 
the  causes  underlying  this  struggle  will  become  clear.  And 
then,  as  to  the  ultimate  aim,  let  it  be  understood  that  it  is 
not  the  disruption,  but  the  union,  of  the  British  empire; 
that  the  intent  is  not  to  raise  up  a  state  which  will  threaten 
the  imperial  government,  but  a  state  which  will  become  the 
strongest  buttress  of  the  best  of  England's  power. 

There  are  those  in  America,  I  know,  who  believe  that 
Ireland  is  fighting  for  absolute  independence.  Black  mem»- 
ories  and  blackened  traditions  have  made  them  relentless 
enemies  of  England  and  dreamers  of  Ireland  as  a  separate 
state,  responsible  to  no  authority  save  her  own.    But  these 


THE  BEGINNINGS 


3 


revolutionists  will  find  no  worthy  allies  in  the  land  of  their 
hopes. 

Hatred  of  England  has  smoldered  here  for  centuries, 
and  now  and  again  the  hot  flames  of  rebellion  have  flared 
up.  Hatred  of  England  is  well  nigh  universal  to-day. 
Sullen,  bitter  enmity  is  the  attitude  of  men  and  women  to 
the  farthest  limits  of  the  island,  and  even  the  children  are 
born  and  bred  to  hate.  But  these  things  are  the  inevitable 
fruit  of  the  weary  years  of  oppression  and  the  long  indiffer- 
ence which  followed.  Let  Ireland  win  simple  justice,  and 
this  people  will  become  the  stanchest  and  most  faithful 
partners  in  the  empire.  On  this  point  I  quote  T.  W.  Russell, 
M.  P.,  who  has  fought  for  forty  years  in  the  ranks  of  Irish- 
men against  the  evils  of  the  land  system,  while  steadily 
opposing  Home  Rule: 

"For  seventy  years  of  the  last  century  Ireland  was 
governed  wholly  in  the  interests  of  a  class.  The  people 
never  had  one  moment's  consideration.  The  famine  of 
1847,  one  °f  those  mysterious  dispensations  by  which  Provi- 
dence asserts  great  principles,  was  ruthlessly  used  in  the  same 
interests.  But  Nemesis,  long  on  the  road,  has  at  last  arrived. 
The  people  are  now  supreme.  The  whole  Irish  question 
was  settled  when  the  vote  was  conferred,  in  the  expressive 
language  of  the  peasantry,  on  every7  'smoke' — that  is,  upon 
every  cabin  from  which  the  smoke  of  the  turf  fire  ascends. 
This  is  the  great  fact  of  the  age.  The  two  races  (Protestant 
and  Catholic)  are  joining  hand  in  hand  even  now  for  com- 
mon objects.  In  due  time  each  will  learn  that  much  can  be 
conceded  with  little  or  no  real  sacrifice.  And  when  this  les- 
son has  been  truly  learned  Ireland  will  have  real  freedom, 
England  will  be  released  from  the  grip  of  a  nightmare  and 
the  empire  will  be  really  united." 

True,  it  will  take  some  time  to  win  back  the  affection  of 
the  people,  but  not  so  long  as  it  took  to  inspire  them  with 
hatred.  The  depth  of  that  hatred  has  been  dangerously 
illustrated  during  the  last  three  years.  Irishmen  in  Parlia- 
ment and  at  home  openly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Boers 
against  their  own  government.  Technically  they  were  guilty 
of  treason.    Actually  they  were  expressing  the  sentiments 


4 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


of  a  race  utterly  alien  to  those  who  ruled  them.  Said  one  of 
the  national  leaders  to  me  the  other  day: 

"You  do  not  realize  the  deep-rooted  enmity  of  our 
people  toward  England.  They  are  rebels,  lacking  only 
arms.  At  those  periods  when  the  oppression  has  been  most 
heavy  any  foreign  power  might  have  found  an  ally  here. 
If  the  Emperor  of  China  or  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  had  landed 
a  force  in  Ireland,  the  people  would  have  flocked  to  his 
standards  against  England." 

These  are  terrible  words,  but  from  what  I  have  seen 
and  heard,  I  believe  they  are  true.  A  nation  in  unarmed 
rebellion — that  is  Ireland  to-day.  And  yet  this  also  is  true : 
When  the  people  shall  have  come  again  to  their  own,  when 
the  burden  of  injustice  has  been  lifted  from  their  shoulders 
and  they  rise  up  to  greet  the  dawn  of  liberty,  it  will  need 
only  patience  and  care  to  win  back  the  lost  allegiance.  This 
statement  was  made  by  the  same  man  who  uttered  the  words 
just  quoted. 

The  Irish  question  has  such  infinite  ramifications  that 
this  brief  introduction  is  necessary  before  taking  up  the 
detail.  The  problem  was  propounded  centuries  ago,  and  for 
the  last  hundred  years  has  engrossed  the  attention  of  the 
British  nation,  with  and  without  its  consent.  Libraries  have 
been  written  upon  it.  The  greatest  statesmen  of  Europe 
have  given  years  to*  its  study.  It  has  been  the  cause  of  end- 
less discussion,  of  rebellion,  imprisonment,  assassination, 
murder,  sacrifice.  In  the  face  of  such  a  record  it  seems  hope- 
less to  treat  it,  in  a  manner  worthy  of  any  attention,  after  a 
few  weeks  of  investigation  and  research.  Yet  an  honest 
effort  can  do  much,  at  least,  to  dispel  ignorance  upon  the 
most  vital  points. 

I  think  I  can  best  make  myself  clear  by  stating  the  most 
obtrusive  conditions  which  now  prevail  in  Ireland.  These 
are,  briefly: 

Political — Widespread  hatred  and  distrust  of 
England.  Peace  insured  by  an  armed  garrison. 
A  police  force,  paid  by  the  Irish  people,  but  controlled 
absolutely  from  London,  scattered  over  the  whole 
island,  with  judicial  as  well  as  administrative 
powers.     "Coercion"  enforced  in  twenty-one  of  the 


THE  BEGINNINGS 


5 


thirty-two  counties,  whereby  free  speech  is  suppressed, 
trial  by  jury  suspended  and  public  discussion,  if 
displeasing  to  officials,  results  in  arbitrary  imprison- 
ment. In  the  British  Parliament,  the  balance  of  power 
held  by  the  Irish  members,  who*  are  united  in  a  deter- 
mination to  obstruct  the  government  at  every  turn.  In 
Ireland,  the  United  Irish  League,  spreading  its  organ- 
ization everywhere,  its  platform  embracing  the  aboli- 
tion of  landlordism  through  compulsory  sale  of  lands, 
and  ultimately  the  establishment  of  national  self- 
government. 

Economic — The  nation  is  dying  by  inches.  Every 
year  the  population  grows  less.  In  1800  it  was  4,000,- 
000,  in  1847  nearly  9,000,000.  Now  it  is  4,456,000. 
Emigration  is  ceaseless.  The  young  and  vigorous  of 
the  race  are  fleeing  from  the  island  as  though  there 
were  a  blight.  In  the  last  fifty  years  3,850,000  have 
fled  from  the  land  of  their  birth.  Nowhere,  save  in  a 
few  restricted  manufacturing  districts,  is  there  a  condi- 
tion worthy  to  be  called  prosperity.  Agriculture  is  the 
employment  of  eight-tenths  of  the  population,  and 
agriculture  spells  destitution.  Hundreds  of  thousands 
exist  only  through  contributions  from!  relatives  in 
America  and  England.  In  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  families  the  men  and  boys  must  spend  six  months  of 
the  year  in  England  in  order  to  earn  enough  money  to 
carry  the  families  through  the  winter.  In  a  word,  the 
Irish  in  Ireland  are  kept  alive  by  the  Irish  who  have 
been  driven  to  other  lands. 

Do  not  these  conditions  form  a  problem  that  shocks 
the  mind?  Here  is  a  country  two-thirds  the  size  of  Penn- 
sylvania, one  great  farm  which  seemingly  needs  but  the 
touch  of  the  husbandman  to  smile  back  in  bounteous  harvest. 
The  Green  Isle!  Ah,  how  green  it  is!  December  is  almost 
here,  yet  the  fields  look  as  fresh  as  ours  in  springtime,  and 
I  saw  violets  and  primroses  growing  the  other  day  when  the 
sun  set  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and  winter  darkness 
followed  swiftly.  Here  lies  the  land,  uncounted  acres  of  it, 
waiting  for  the  farmer,  ready  to  yield  its  riches  to  a  nation 
of  millions,  yet  the  people  flee  from  it.    From  year  to  year 


6 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


the  population  shrinks.  Instead  of  plenty  there  is  poverty. 
Instead  of  rich  farms,  comfortable  homes,  a  happy  populace, 
the  fields  lie  bare  to  the  roaming  of  cattle. 

I  have  traveled  from  end  to  end  of  the  country  and 
back  again,  from  sea  to  sea,  visiting  the  cities,  the  towns, 
the  villages,  the  tiny  hamlets  and  farms.  And  there  is  one 
picture  which  blots  out  all  else.  It  is  desolation.  Where 
the  land  is  cruel  and  hard  there  the  people  are  found  fight- 
ing with  supreme  courage  and  desperation  against  hunger. 
Where  the  land  is  rich  and  radiant  with  promise  of  plenty 
there  is  utter  loneliness.    The  people  are  goiiie. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this  outrage  against  nature  and 
humanity?  By  every  law  we  know  of  governing  human 
activity  and  the  life  of  men  this  country  should  be  populous 
and  prosperous.  Of  all  the  countries  where  white  men  live, 
it  is  the  only  one  where  the  number  of  souls  grows  less  and 
less  year  by  year.  Fashioned  from  the  beginning  to  be  the 
home  of  many  millions,  beloved  by  its  sons  as  no  other  land 
under  heaven  was  ever  beloved,  it  is  reverting  steadily  to  a 
place  fit  only  for  flocks  and  herds.  Happily,  the  exodus  is 
being  somewhat  checked,  and  there  is  growing  promise  that 
some  day  the  level  will  begin  to  rise  again.  But  in  that  the 
evil  work  of  centuries  has  sapped  Ireland's  best  blood,  there 
lies  against  civilization  a  heavy  debt. 

Wherein  is  the  explanation  of  the  steady  depopulation 
of  Ireland — of  these  conditions  of  unrest,  hatred,  poverty 
and  hunger?    It  is  named  in  two  words — THE  LAND. 

In  all  the  endless  story  of  oppression  and  wrong,  this 
is  the  beginning  and  the  end.  By  persecution,  by  war,  by 
straightforward  robbery,  by  famine  and  by  unjust  laws  the 
people  have  been  forced  from  their  lands.  Hundreds  of 
thousands  have  perished  miserably,  millions  have  been  driven 
into  exile,  hundreds  of  thousands  are  to-day  living  chiefly  on 
the  bounty  of  those  who  have  been  fortunate  enough  to 
escape.  In  all  that  shall  be  written,  therefore,  let  the  reader 
keep  in  mind  the  land.  That  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  trouble, 
and  through  it  comes  salvation  presently.  The  wrangle  of 
politics,  the  clash  of  creeds,  the  defiance  of  desperate  people 
and  the  strong  measures  of  insulted  law  and  order — all  have 
their  rise  in  the  dispute  about  the  land. 


THE  BEGINNINGS 


7 


How  can  it  be  made  clear  that  in  the  dispute  the  com- 
plaint of  the  people  is  just?  I  have  heard  men  who  have 
intelligent  views  on  affairs  of  their  own  country  declare  that 
the  trouble  in  Ireland  exists  because  the  people  are  chron- 
ically discontented,  have  an  inborn  prejudice  against  paying 
rent  and  murder  their  landlords  rather  than  meet  their  just 
debts.  As  far  back  as  the  oldest  living  man  can  remember 
there  has  been  the  same  dispute  between  landlord  and 
tenant.  It  has  become  wearisome  to  those  not  interested. 
They  have  forgotten,  or  have  never  taken  the  trouble  to 
learn,  the  foundations  of  the  trouble.  The  placid  house- 
holder in  an  American  town,  for  instance,  who  religiously 
sends  a  check  to  his  landlord  on  the  first  of  the  month,  and 
never  has  a  more  serious  dispute  with  him  than  might  con- 
cern a  leaky  roof  or  a  patch  of  soiled  wall  paper — how  can 
such  a  man  look  with  sympathy  upon  a  people  who  form 
secret  societies  against  landlords  and  send  men  to  Parlia- 
ment pledged  to  the  same  unholy  cause?  There  must  be  a 
readjustment  of  ideas  before  we  can  approach  this  question 
intelligently.  The  slate  must  be  wiped  clean  for  the  recep- 
tion of  new  facts  and  new  ideas.  The  Irish  land  problem 
has  not  its  parallel  anywhere.  The  conditions  are  as  unique 
as  they  are  heart-breaking. 

Since  the  land  question,  therefore,  holds  the  solution  of 
all  Ireland's  troubles,  it  will  be  treated  at  length  in  these 
letters.  But  first  we  must  lay  the  foundation  for  our  case, 
and  this  foundation  must  be  historical.  The  beginning  of 
the  struggle  was  in  1169,  when  Strongbow,  Earl  of  Pem- 
broke, the  first  Saxon  invader  of  Ireland,  descended  on  the 
coast  of  Wexford  and  subdued  some  of  the  Irish  tribes, 
establishing  the  feudal  system.  Since  then  there  has  been  a 
never-ending  struggle  of  the  people  against  those  who  ruled 
them.  It  is  needless  to  recount  here  the  long  history  of  the 
early  period.  Indeed,  there  is  not  space  for  it.  But  the 
English  policy  was  always  the  same — to  seize  the  land, 
reduce  the  free  people  to  the  status  of  farming  serfs  and 
quell  their  efforts  to  regain  their  freedom  by  the  most  strin- 
gent laws  and  exactions. 

Ingenious  means  were  devised  to  crush  the  Irish  spirit, 
and  finally  to  exterminate  the  race.    Under  the  early  Henrys, 


s 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


laws  were  passed  forbidding  the  English  invaders  to  marry 
Irish  persons.  By  these  laws  the  natural  enmity  between  the 
races  was  fostered.  There  was  no  desire  to  permit  an 
amalgamation  and  peaceful  division  of  the  land.  Hence  end- 
less wars  raged.  For  nearly  four  hundred  years  Ireland  was 
racked  with  strife,  until  at  last,  under  Queen  Elizabeth,  the 
subjugation  of  the  islanders  was  completed  for  the  time 
being.  By  that  time  great  tracts  of  land,  which  had  been  in 
possession  of  the  Irish,  had  passed  to  the  descendants  of  the 
invaders.  Industry — which  was  agriculture,  of  course — had 
been  utterly  prostrated.  No  man  cared  to  till  the  ground, 
for,  under  the  laws,  the  soldiery  had  the  right  to  seize  what- 
ever crops  or  property  they  needed  or  desired.  As  a  sample 
of  campaign  methods,  the  report  of  one  Malby  in  1576  will 
be  of  interest.    He  wrote : 

"I  marched  into  the  territory  of  Shan  Burke,  with  deter- 
mination to  consume  them  with  fire  and  sword.  I  burned  all 
their  corn  and  houses  and  committed  to  the  sword  all  that 
could  be  found. 

"Then  I  burned  Ulick  Burke's  country.  In  like  man- 
ner I  assaulted  a  castle,  where  the  garrison  surrendered. 
I  put  them  to  the  misericordia  of  my  soldiers.  They  were 
all  slain.  Thence  I  went  on,  sparing  none  which  came  in 
my  way,  which  cruelty  did  so  amaze  their  followers  that  they 
could  not  tell  where  to  bestow  themselves.  Shan  Burke  made 
means  to  me  to  pardon  him  and  forbear  killing  of  his  people. 
I  would  not  hearken,  but  went  on  my  way.  *  *  *  It 
was  all  done  in  rain  and  frost  and  storm,  journeys  in  such 
weather  bringing  them  the  sooner  to  submission.  They  are 
humble  enough  now,  and  will  yield  to  any  terms  we  like  to 
offer  them." 

Through  these  expeditions  the  English  learned  of  the 
value  of  the  colony,  and  determined  to  develop  it.  Induce- 
ments were  offered  to  sons  of  good  families  to  undertake  the 
colonization  of  large  tracts,  one  condition  being  imposed, 
namely,  that  no  Irish  were  to  be  permitted  to*  settle  on  the 
grants.  The  land  was  parceled  out  to  court  favorites  in 
tracts  of  1000  to  20,000  acres  and  more.  Thus  the  people 
were  first  driven  from  their  homes.  How  they  suffered  one 
paragraph  from  a  contemporary  account  will  show: 


THE  BEGINNINGS 


9 


"No  spectacle  was  more  frequent  in  the  ditches  of  the 
towns,  and  especially  in  wasted  countries,  than  to  see  multi- 
tudes of  the  poor  Irish  lying  dead,  with  their  mouths  all 
colored  green  from  eating  nettles,  dock  and  such  weeds  as 
they  could  find  on  the  ground.' ' 

When  the  son  of  Catholic  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  came 
to  the  throne  the  suffering  people  hoped  for  relief.  The 
answer  to  their  hopes  was  the  confiscation  of  six  counties  in 
Ulster,  3,750,000  acres.  The  Stuarts  continued  this  policy 
to  the  limit,  granting  the  richest  tracts  to  favorites  of  the 
court,  driving  the  poor  people  from  their  holdings  and  for- 
bidding the  employment  upon  the  grants  of  any  native  of 
Ireland.  From  these  kingly  robberies  the  land  titles  of  most 
of  the  great  landlords  of  to-day  are  derived.  Sometimes 
there  was  a  form  of  law  in  the  methods  of  confiscation. 
Juries  were  appointed  "to  inquire  into  defective  titles."  It 
is  only  necessary  to  add  that  a  juror  who  found  a  verdict 
against  the  Crown  was  imprisoned,  pilloried  or  branded  with 
a  hot  iron.  Under  this  system  430,000  acres  in  Wexford, 
Wicklow  and  Leitrim  were  seized  by  the  government  and 
farmed  out  to  those  in  favor  at  the  court. 

In  spite  of  this  oppression  and  robbery,  the  Irish, 
inspired  by  religion  and  kingly  promises,  espoused  the  cause 
of  Charles  I.  They  had  their  reward,  for  when  the  King 
had  been  put  to  death  Cromwell  and  his  Roundheads 
descended  on  Ireland  like  a  scourge. 

That  chapter  in  history  cannot  be  read  without  a  shud- 
der. Massacre  followed  massacre,  and  at  the  end  the  whole 
country  was  declared  forfeit  to  the  government.  Those  Irish 
who  had  managed  to  cling  to  fruitful  lands  were  driven  in 
the  dead  of  the  winter  across  the  Shannon  to  the  westward 
and  forced  to  make  their  homes  on  the  most  barren  lands. 
Nearly  16,000,000  acres  were  thus  seized  and  divided 
among  English  noblemen  and  others  who  had  aided  the 
Parliament.  Under  James  II  and  William  of  Orange  the 
depredations  went  on,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  Irish  people,  to  whom  had  belonged  the  whole 
of  the  island,  found  themselves  confined  to  an  area  of  one- 
seventh  of  it,  and  this  the  most  unproductive  land. 

This  is  just  a  glance  at  the  record  of  persecution  and 


10 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


confiscation  in  Ireland,  but  it  will  indicate  the  historical  basis 
of  the  Irish  claims.  The  people  have  been  defeated  more 
than  once,  but  they  have  never  yielded  except  to  brute  force. 
Hatreds  were  engendered  in  those  old  days  that  burn  as 
fiercely  to-day.  Every  Irish  child  is  taught  by  fireside  story 
the  tale  of  his  forefathers'  sufferings.  Every  lad  grows  up 
with  the  teaching  that  but  for  tyranny  his  people  would  be 
in  possession  of  fair  lands.  Necessarily  our  account  has  been 
of  the  briefest  description,  and  is  here  given  merely  to  indi- 
cate how  the  land  originally  passed  from  the  people  to  the 
great  families  of  England  and  their  descendants.  This, 
however,  makes  possible  an  intelligent  survey  of  the  last 
hundred  years,  during  which  the  Irish  question  has  been  the 
predominant  factor  in  British  politics. 

It  has  outlasted  monarchs  and  their  courts.  Men  have 
died,  but  it  lives.  The  map  of  the  world  has  been  changed 
a  hundred  times,  but  it  changes  not.  Through  peace  and 
war,  famine  and  plenty,  England  is  always  confronted  with 
Ireland  and  her  question:    "Will  ye  let  my  people  go?" 

As  the  consideration  of  recent  history  must  be  post- 
poned, this  thought  should  be  stated  here,  lest  any  misunder- 
stand. The  Irish  people  do>  not  ask  that  the  crimes  of  the 
Tudors,  the  Stuarts  and  their  successors  be  undone.  They 
do  not  demand  that  the  land  stolen  from  their  forefathers  be 
given  back  to  them.  They  only  ask  the  opportunity  to  buy 
it.  Still  battling  with  hunger  and  death  on  the  stony  patches 
to  which  they  were  driven,  they  look  with  unutterable  long- 
ing upon  the  fair  land  that  surrounds  them,  and  beg  that 
they  may  be  permitted  to  redeem  it  for  their  children.  For 
a  hundred  years  they  have  encamped  in  misery  on  the  other 
side  of  Jordan,  never  faltering  in  the  hope  that  some  day 
they  may  cross  over. 

On  one  side  a  starving  people,  on  the  other  a  land  of 
plenty,  desolate  for  need  of  people — that  is  the  Irish  ques- 
tion. 


II 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  PROBL  EM 

The  unhappy  condition  of  the  people  in  some  of  the 
agricultural  districts  of  Ireland  has  been  described  so  often 
during  past  years  that  it  would  seem  nothing  more  could  be 
said.  Yet  to  a  stranger,  an  American,  ignorant  of  the  facts, 
the  first  view  is  a  shock.  I  have  now  traversed  the  country 
more  than  once,  visiting  not  only  the  towns  and  villages,  but 
the  settlements  remote  from  the  railroads,  and  the  scenes  I 
have  witnessed  are  so  vivid,  so  pitiful,  that  the  pen  aches  to 
set  them  down.  But  this  task  must  wait  a  little.  It  is  easy 
to  find  misery  anywhere.  In  our  own  cities  destitution  is 
unhappily  familiar,  and  even  in  our  generous  country  dis- 
tricts there  may  be  discovered  unwholesome  conditions  of 
life.  This  investigation  is  of  small  value  unless  it  is  shown 
first  that  the  poverty  and  suffering  are  due  to  misgovernment 
and  that  the  intolerable  conditions  can  be  relieved  only  by 
sweeping  away  the  system  of  Irish  landlordism. 

Those  who  properly  revere  the  sacred  rights  of  prop- 
erty need  not  take  alarm  at  the  proposition.  It  is  the  sober 
judgment  of  the  best  leaders  of  thought  on  the  question,  and 
will  soon  be  embodied  in  the  proposals  of  the  British  govern- 
ment. They  must  remember  also  that  the  United  States  does 
not  know  any  such  system  of  land  holding  as  exists  here.  It 
is  as  foreign  to  their  knowledge  as  the  land  laws  of  China. 
It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  withhold  description  of  actual 
conditions  here  until  these  bases  of  judgment  are  established. 
My  first  letter  sketched  briefly  the  early  history  of  Ireland 
and  showed  in  outline  how  the  seizures  and  confiscations,  in 
war  and  peace,  through  forms  of  law  and  open  persecution, 
resulted  in  transferring  the  land  by  wholesale  from  the  native 
owners  to  English  adventurers  and  court  favorites.  Thus, 
through  the  remorseless  operation  of  conquest  and  greed,  the 
Irish  people  became  a  nation  of  tenant  farmers. 

11 


12  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 

In  tracing  the  history  of  the  land  question  I  have  talked 
with  miany  men,  among  them  those  who  have  devoted  their 
lives  to  the  Irish  cause.  Most  of  all  I  am  indebted  to  Mr. 
T.  W.  Russell,  of  Dublin,  a  member  of  Parliament.  Mr. 
Russell  is  a  Scotchman,  has  been  in  public  life  for  nearly 
forty  years  and  to-day  is  one  of  the  greatest  figures  in  the 
Irish  struggle.  He  has  been  and  is  the  friend  and  adviser 
of  the  people  and  of  the  statesmen  as  well.  There  is  not  a 
voice  in  England  or  Ireland  which  dare  accuse  him  of  waver- 
ing a  hair's  breadth  from  honesty  and  sincerity  of  purpose. 
He  is  a  student,  a  thinker  and  a  historian.  He  has  made  a 
lifelong  fight  for  Union  as  against  Home  Rule.  Further- 
more— and  this  is  a  greater  evidence  of  impartiality  than 
Americans  imagine — he  is  a  stanch  Protestant.  Upon  all 
counts,  therefore,  he  is  a  faithful  and  competent  witness  for 
the  Irish  people.  In  the  succeeding  review  of  the  story  of 
the  land  I  take  much  of  my  evidence  from  his  "Ireland  and 
the  Empire,"  published  within  a  year,  the  knowledge  so 
gained  being  fortified  by  personal  interviews  with  leaders 
and  by  study  of  the  highest  authorities. 

The  political  history  of  the  last  century  will  be  treated 
in  detail  at  another  time,  but  these  few  facts  should  be  borne 
in  mind:  Ireland  had  her  own  Parliament  from  1782  to 
1800,  and  all  historians  agree  that  under  that  rule  she 
enjoyed  remarkable  prosperity.  In  1800,  despite  the  pleas 
of  the  people,  the  Parliament  was  abolished  and  a  union  with 
England  was  forced  by  that  country.  Of  the  nature  of  this 
act  it  is  only  necessary  to  quote  Gladstone,  whose  judgment 
few  Americans  will  doubt.    He  said: 

"I  know  of  no  blacker  or  fouler  transaction  in  the  his- 
tory of  man  than  the  making  of  the  Union  between  England 
and  Ireland." 

For  one  hundred  years,  therefore,  Ireland  has  been  gov- 
erned absolutely  by  England.  Mr.  Russell's  estimate  is  a 
terrible  indictment: 

"Seventy  of  these  years  stand  out  a  reproach  and  a  disgrace 
to  England.  Nothing  can  well  be  worse  than  the  record  of  the 
English  in  Ireland  during  this  period.  These  years  have  wit- 
nessed several  attempts  at  armed  rebellion,  suppressed,  of  course, 
by  the  superior  power  of  England.  They  have  seen  the  people, 
visited  by  a  great  famine,  rushing  from  the  country  as  if  it  were 


ITS  MAKING 


J3 


plague  stricken — 3,841,419  having  gone  across  the  ocean  in  fifty 
years.  In  other  words,  forty-seven  per  cent,  of  the  population  have 
fled  from  the  country  to  seek  bread  under  another  flag. 

"These  years  have  witnessed  the  reign  of  secret  societies,  of 
agrarian  crime  and  of  endless  coercion  acts.  They  have  been 
dominated  by  a  land  system,  which  can  only  be  described  as  sys- 
tematized and  legal  robbery  of  the  poor.  The  governed  were,  in 
the  main,  helots  and  slaves;  the  governors  were,  to  a  large  extent, 
callous  and  heartless  tyrants.  England  had,  unasked  and  unbid- 
den, taken  over  the  government  of  Ireland.  Where  the  duty  was 
not  shamefully  neglected,  it  was  exercised  in  the  interests  of  a 
class  alone.  Until  Mr.  Gladstone  arose,  no  subject  people  had 
ever  been  more  basely  treated  or  neglected  by  a  conqueror."   

In  view  of  such  a  record,  when  even  the  elementary 
liberties  of  the  people  were  crushed  by  tyranny,  it  may  be 
imagined  that  they  suffered  grievously  in  their  centuries-old 
struggle  for  the  land.  That  this  has  been  and  is  the 
supreme  issue  one  statement  will  show.  The  population  of 
Ireland  is  a  little  over  4,450,000.  Of  these,  nearly  3,500,000 
depend  directly  or  indirectly  upon  the  land  for  their  sup- 
port, for  their  daily  bread.  In  America  a  bad  season  seldom 
means  more  than  temporary7  retrenchment  to  the  agricultural 
element.  Here  a  single  failure  of  crops  means  absolute  desti- 
tution to  millions.  Trade  is  instantly  prostrated,  and  starva- 
tion becomes  an  imminent  peril  to  hundreds  of  thousands. 
Hence  it  is  that  upon  land  reform  hang  the  life  and  death 
of  the  Irish  people. 

Xow  to  indicate  very  briefly  the  developments  which 
have  imposed  the  present  cruel  and  absurd  system  of  land 
tenure. 

In  the  earliest  days  the  tribal  system  was  in  force,  that 
is,  the  tillers  of  the  soil  paid  certain  tribute  to  their  chief- 
tains. There  was,  in  fact,  dual  ownership  of  the  land, 
between  the  governors  and  the  governed.  The  struggles 
which  have  endured  for  so  many  generations  have  been  due 
primarily  to  the  repudiation  of  the  people's  rights  as  land 
owners  and  the  gradual  seizure  of  the  land  by  the  governing 
class.  Feudal  tenure,  an  anachronism  long  swept  away  in 
other  countries,  still  exists  here,  and  the  destruction  of  it  is 
the  only  means  of  restoring  peace.  The  most  concise  story 
of  how  the  land  was  taken  from  the  people  is  found  in  the 
report  of  the  English  Devon  Commission,  headed  by  the 
Earl  of  Devon,  which  was  issued  in  1845  after  an  investiga- 


i4  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


tion  covering  two  years.  This  report,  which  is  a  standard 
authority,  says: 

"In  the  civil  contentions  which  at  various  periods,  and  during 
many  centuries,  disturbed  the  repose  of  England  and  Scotland, 
property  gradually  passed  from  the  feudal  tenure  of  former  times 
to  the  more  civilized  relation  of  landlord  and  tenant,  as  known  to 
our  present  law.  It  is  for  us  briefly  to  show  how  different  has  been 
the  case  with  Ireland.  Without  entering  at  any  length  into  the 
history  of  the  past,  we  cannot  avoid  noticing  a  few  prominent 
matters  which  exercise  a  material  influence  in  producing  the  exist- 
ing relation  of  landlord  and  tenant. 

"We  allude  to  the  confiscations  and  colonizations  of  Elizabeth 
and  James,  the  wars  of  Cromwell  and,  lastly,  the  penal  code.  The 
first  of  these  led,  in  many  instances,  to  the  possession  of  large 
tracts  by  individuals  whose  more  extensive  estates  in  England 
made  them  regardless  and  neglectful  of  their  properties  in  Ireland. 
Again,  the  confiscation  of  the  lands  of  O'Neill,  in  the  North,  and 
Desmond,  in  the  South,  was  followed  by  the  plantations  of  Ulster 
and  Munster. 

"The  extensive  settlement  of  Scotch  and  English  in  the  coun- 
ties of  Ulster  has  introduced  habits  and  customs  which  give  a 
different  character  to  that  province  from  other  parts  of  the  island. 
In  Munster  the  colonization  was  more  imperfectly  carried  out,  and 
a  class  of  (foreign)  undertakers  became  the  landlords  of  the  native 
peasantry. 

"The  adventurers  who  obtained  debentures  from  Cromwell 
formed,  for  the  most  part,  a  small  proprietary;  and  being  generally 
resident,  exercised  an  influence  on  the  relations  of  society  different 
from  that  produced  by  the  large  and  absent  grantees  of  former 
reigns. 

"These  confiscations  were  followed  at  a  later  date  by  the  enact- 
ment of  the  penal  laws  (against  Roman  Catholics),  which,  affecting 
as  they  did  the  position  of  Roman  Catholics  as  regarded  landed 
property,  had  a  very  general  influence  on  society. 

"These  laws,  both  in  their  enactment  and  in  their  subsequent 
relaxations,  have  materially  affected  the  position  of  occupier  and 
proprietor.  They  interfered  with  almost  every  method  of  dealing 
with  landed  property  by  those  who  profess  that  religion,  and  by 
creating  a  feeling  of  insecurity,  directly  checked  their  industry. 
The  Protestant  landlords,  in  letting  their  estates,  were  thus  con- 
fined in  the  selection  of  their  tenants  to  those  who  alone  could 
enjoy  any  permanent  tenure  under  them,  and  were  exclusively 
entitled  to  the  elective  franchise. 

"Many  of  the  landlords,  therefore,  parted  with  the  whole  or  a 
great  portion  of  their  property  for  long  terms,  and  thus  avoided 
all  immediate  contact  with  the  inferior  occupiers,  so  that  all  the 
duties  of  a  landlord  were  left  for  performance  to  a  middleman. 

"This  (letting  to  middlemen)  was  generally  done  so  as  to 
insure  a  large  profit,  and  the  poor  occupiers  were  frequently 
exposed  to  great  oppression.  The  system  has  entailed  upon  the 
country  the  most  injurious  consequences." 


ITS  MAKING 


15 


The  facts  here  given  are  so  important  to  an  understand- 
ing of  the  question  that  I  shall  attempt  to  restate  them  in 
simpler  terms: 

1.  The  land  was  taken  from  the  people  by  force  and 
conferred  upon  adventurers  and  titled  favorites  of  the  sov- 
ereigns. The  means  used  were  confiscation,  colonization, 
seizure  in  time  of  war  and  as  reprisal  by  the  victors,  and, 
finally,  penal  laws,  which  stripped  Roman  Catholics  of  nearly 
every  right  enjoyed  by  citizens  under  free  government. 

2.  In  Ulster  conditions  are  different  from  those  pre- 
vailing elsewhere,  because  the  new  settlers,  being  English 
and  Scotch,  were  favored  by  the  granting  of  certain  rights, 
and  these  endure  to  this  day,  whereas  it  was  not  until  1870 
that  the  same  rights  were  conferred  on  the  rest  of  the 
country. 

3.  The  very  severity  of  the  laws  so  hampered  the 
owners  living  in  England  that  they  sublet  their  Irish  estates 
to  middlemen,  who  ground  down  the  hapless  peasantry  at 
will.  In  this  regard  there  is  on  record  an  astounding  case. 
In  an  appeal  made  under  the  modern  land  laws  it  was  shown 
that  between  one  tiller  of  the  soil  and  the  owner  of  it  there 
were  no  fewer  than  three  middlemen.  In  other  words,  the 
fanner  upon  whom  fell  all  the  work  had  to  produce  rent  for 
four  different  purses  from  his  single  holding.  The  court 
reduced  the  rent  sixty  per  cent. 


Ill 


WHAT  IRISH  LANDLORDISM  IS 

In  considering  the  broad  question  of  land  tenure  in  Ire- 
land the  vital  thing  to  remember  is  this :  Irish  landlordism 
is  totally  different  from  English  or  American  landlordism. 
In  England,  for  instance,  the  proprietor  of  agricultural  land 
owns  the  land  and  everything  upon  it.  He  builds  the  houses, 
the  barns,  the  fences.  He  pays  for  the  clearing  and  drain- 
ing and  repairs  the  roads.  The  tenant  receives  from  him 
an  equipped  farm,  and  supplies  only  the  labor  of  tilling,  pay- 
ing a  rental  based  upon  the  land  and  improvements. 

In  Ireland,  on  the  contrary,  the  landlord  supplied  noth- 
ing but  the  land,  which  he  or  his  ancestors  received  as  a  gift 
from  the  Crown.  The  tenant,  under  this  system,  pays  exor- 
bitant rent  for  the  bare  ground.  It  is  the  tenant  who  must 
clear  the  land,  drain  it,  make  roads,  build  house  and  barn 
and  fences.  In  fact,  his  industry  alone  creates  from  the  bare 
soil  the  farml  for  which  he  pays  rent. 

And  here  is  the  almost  incredible  fact:  Until  thirty 
years  ago  all  the  labor  of  the  tenant,  though  he  spent  a  life- 
time in  making  his  farm,  gave  him  absolutely  no  interest  in 
the  property.  The  fences  he  erected,  the  roads  he  made, 
the  buildings  he  put  up — all  were  the  property  of  the  land- 
lord. That  was  the  law.  And  at  any  time,  with  or  without 
cause,  rent  paid  or  rent  unpaid,  that  tenant  could  be  evicted 
from  his  home  at  the  whim  of  the  landlord,  and  the  work  of 
his  lifetime  passed  .automatically  into  the  ownership  of  the 
landlord. 

Can  the  mind  conceive  of  a  system  more  monstrous, 
more  absurd?  Does  it  not  more  than  justify  Mr.  Russell's 
estimate,  when  he  calls  it  "systematized  and  legal  robbery  of 
the  poor"  ?  Does  it  not  offer  at  least  some  palliation  for  the 
weary  years  of  violence  and  assault,  by  which  the  oppressed 
people  expressed  their  despair  and  misery? 

The  history  of  Ireland  is  smeared  with  crime.    In  the 

16 


IRISH  LANDLORDISM 


17 


old  days  there  were  the  cruel  methods  of  the  invading  troops 
and  authorities;  in  more  recent  times  the  bloody  reprisals  of 
the  mob.  Uncounted  brutalities  and  murders  have  been 
charged  against  the  secret  organizations  of  the  tenants 
during  the  last  century.  But  in  reading  these  horrible  stories 
two  facts  must  be  kept  constantly  in  view,  if  a  just  opinion 
is  to  be  rendered :  First,  the  land  was  taken  from  the  people 
by  violence  and  by  the  contemptible  processes  of  religious 
persecution;  second,  when  they  were  allowed  to  reclaim  it, 
on  the  most  exorbitant  terms,  all  their  labor  was  seized  for 
the  benefit  of  the  landlords.  This  cannot  be  too  strongly 
emphasized,  for  it  is  the  very7  foundation  of  the  struggle 
which  has  drenched  the  land  in  blood  and  made  the  Irish 
people  a  nation  of  rebels.  Lord  Russell,  of  Killowen,  during 
his  life  was  well  known  to  Americans,  who  will  accept  any 
judgment  delivered  by  him  concerning  rights  under  English 
law.    I  quote  from  him  : 

"The  claim  of  tenant  right  (part  proprietorship  in  the 
land  by  the  occupying  farmer)  is  based  upon  this  essential 
fact:  Whereas  in  England  a  farm  is  let,  equipped  for  use 
as  a  farm,  and  the  covenant  requires  the  landlord  to  keep 
up  the  farm  buildings,  houses,  fencing  and  drainage,  all  this 
in  Ireland  is  the  work  of  the  tenant." 

And  yet,  until  Gladstone  came  to  the  rescue,  in  1870, 
the  lifework  of  the  tenant  counted  nothing  against  the  land- 
lord-made law.  The  landlord  let  the  bare  soil,  perhaps  a 
strip  of  bog  or  a  patch  on  a  stony  hillside;  for  it  must  be 
remembered  that  land-hunger  has  been  the  curse  of  Ireland, 
and  the  people  have  always  been  compelled  to  beg  for 
enough  soil  to  give  them  a  living.  The  tenant,  then,  took 
the  bog  or  the  patch  of  stones  and  erected  his  little  cabin 
on  it.  Before  he  could  raise  a  peck  of  potatoes  he  had  to 
prepare  the  land.  He  had  to  clear  out  the  stones,  dig 
elaborate  drains,  build  fences.  It  has  been  truly  said  that 
his  first  three  crops  were  stones.  In  other  words — it  will 
seem  incredible  to  the  American  farmer — the  Irish  peasant 
had  to  take  the  raw  materials  and  actually  make  his  farm 
with  his  own  hands  and  with  the  most  heart-breaking  labor, 
meanwhile  and  always  paying  rent  for  a  farm. 

"But,"  says  the  hard-working  American,  "what  pioneer 


1 8  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 

settler  does  not  have  to  reclaim  his  land?  Do  you  suggest 
that  all  this  work  should  have  been  done  for  the  farmer  with- 
out cost  to  him  ?" 

Wait  a  moment.  Let  us  see  what  happened.  The 
tenant  had  given,  say,  three  years  to  the  making  of  his  farm. 
With  infinite  labor  and  by  incredible  self-sacrifice  he  drained 
the  bog,  dug  out  the  stones  with  his  hands  and  carted  them 
away,  and  at  last  had  made  ready  a  patch  of  ground  to  grow 
food  for  himself  and  his  family.  At  such  time  arrived  the 
landlord's  agent.  With  practiced  eye  he  surveyed  the 
improved  land,  estimated  the  labor  spent  upon  it  and  raised 
the  rent  correspondingly.  If  the  tenant  had  agreed  to  pay 
$20  a  year  for  his  three  or  four  acres  of  stony  soil,  he  was 
told  that  having  cleared  and  drained  it  he  would  have  to 
pay  $40. 

Does  the  honest,  hard-working  American,  who  believes 
in  paying  his  rent  with  his  other  debts,  begin  to  see  why  the 
Irish  tenant  has  been  an  agitator  and  a  lawbreaker  for  gen- 
erations? Remember,  there  was  no  law  to  which  he  could 
appeal.  He  was  as  much  at  the  mercy  of  the  landlord  as 
the  negro  of  the  South  was  at  the  mercy  of  his  owner.  The 
titled  proprietor  in  England  left  everything  to  the  middle- 
man or  to  his  own  personal  agent.  The  tenant  was  ground 
between  the  agent  and  the  soil.    There  was  no>  escape. 

Suppose  he  paid  the  increase  ordered,  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  a  penalty  for  his  industry.  The  next  year  his  land 
yielded  a  crop.  Again  the  agent  came,  estimated  the  value 
of  the  yield  and  raised  the  rent  again.  So  the  grinding  went 
on,  from  year  to  year,  the  uttermost  farthing  being  wrung* 
from  the  farmer,  until  the  inevitable  time  came  when  he 
could  not  pay.  Having  spent  himself  on  the  land,  living  on 
the  verge  of  starvation  in  order  to  meet  the  steadily  increas- 
ing demands  of  the  landlord,  knowing  that  the  harder  he 
worked  the  more  he  must  pay,  he  found  himself  at  last  at 
the  end  of  his  resources.  He  could  not  pay  the  increased 
rent.  Again  there  was  no  choice.  By  simple,  cheap  and 
effective  process  of  law  the  tenant  and  his  family  were 
evicted,  thrown  out  on  the  roadside  to  die  or  to  start  the 
weary  struggle  afresh  in  some  new  patch  of  bog  or  rocky 
hillside. 


IRISH  LANDLORDISM 


19 


And  what  became  of  the  product  of  his  labor?  Surely 
he  could  dispose  of  his  interest  in  the  land,  the  drains  he  had 
dug,  the  fences  and  houses  and  barns  he  had  built?  Not  to 
the  extent  of  one  farthing.  By  the  very  process  of  eviction 
all  improvements  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  landlord. 
The  starving  family  on  the  roadside  were  even  poorer  than 
before  they  started.  They  might  go  where  they  would.  All 
the  landlord's  agent  had  to  do  was  to  take  a  new  tenant. 
This  new  tenant  could  afford  to  pay  the  high  rent  demanded, 
for  he  found  a  farm  and  buildings  ready  to  support  his 
family.  He  took  possession,  and  remained  until  the  wrench- 
ing of  the  thumbscrews  each  year  brought  him,  too,  to  the 
limit  of  his  ability  to  pay,  and  then  he,  too.  was  thrown  out. 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  system  of  land  tenure  in  Ireland 
for  generations.  Nor  is  this  the  worst.  The  tenant  was  sub- 
ject to  eviction  not  only  for  non-payment  of  rent,  but  abso- 
lutely at  the  whim  or  caprice  of  the  landlord  or  agent.  The 
serving  of  a  formal  notice  toward  the  end  of  the  year  was 
sufficient.  And  the  farmer  was  summarily  ejected  from  his 
home;  the  labor  of  years,  the  property  he  had  actually  made 
with  his  own  hands,  was  stolen. 

These  statements  are  so  astounding  to  one  who  meets 
the  facts  for  the  first  time  that  I  am  constrained  to  quote 
English  authority  for  them: 

Lord  Xormanby — "In  Ireland  the  landlord  has  a  monopoly  of 
the  means  of  existence,  and  has  a  power  for  enforcing  his  bargains 
which  does  not  exist  elsewhere — the  power  of  starvation." 

Mr.  Xassau  Senior — "The  treaty  between  landlord  and  tenant 
in  Ireland  is  not  a  calm  bargain  in  which  the  tenant,  having  offered 
what  he  thinlks  the  land  worth,  cares  little  whether  his  offer  be 
accepted  or  not;  it  is  a  struggle,  like  the  struggle  to  buy  bread  in 
a  besieged  town,  or  to  buy  water  in  an  African  caravan." 

John  Bright — "Ireland  is  a  land  of  evictions — a  word  which,  I 
suspect,  is  scarcely  known  in  any  other  civilized  country.  It  is  a 
country  from  which  thousands  have  been  driven  by  the  will  of  the 
landlords  and  the  power  of  the  law." 

The  Devon  Commission — "It  seems  neither  extraordinary  nor 
unreasonable  that  a  tenant  quitting  a  farm,  either  at  his  own 
desire  or  from  any  difference  with  his  landlord,  should  obtain  a 
sum  of  money  in  remuneration  for  his  expenditure." 

Poulet  Scrope,  M.  P. — "Though  God  gave  the  land  of  Ireland 
to  the  people  of  Ireland — to  the  many — the  law  has  given  it  uncon- 
ditionally to  the  few.  Even  in  the  best  of  times,  if  the  landlord 
refuses  to  the  peasant  the  holding  of  a  plot  of  land,  if  other  starv- 
ing wretches  outbid  his  offer  for  the  patch  of  soil  whose  possession 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


is  as  necessary  to  his  existence  as  the  air  he  breathes;  if  sickness 
or  misfortune  prevent  his  punctual  payment  of  the  enormous  rent 
he  has  promised,  and  he  and  his  family  are  ejected  from  the  cabin 
which  perhaps  sheltered  him  from  his  birth — what  remains?  He 
must  die!    The  law  allows  him  no  other  alternative." 

Preamble  of  Land  Keform  Bill,  1836— "Whereas,  It  has  long 
been  the  general  practice  in  Ireland  that  all  buildings  have  been 
erected  and  kept  in  repair,  and  all  improvements  have  been  made 
by  the  tenant  and  at  his  cost;  and,  whereas,  the  power  of  the  land- 
lord in  recovering  rent  and  in  evicting  tenants  from  their  holdings, 
and  enforcing  claims  of  every  description  by  means  of  distress  and 
ejectment,  have  been  strengthened  and  extended  by  various  acts; 
and,  whereas,  it  is  therefore  just  and  expedient  that  a  reasonable 
protection  should  be  afforded  to  tenants  making  permanent  and 
beneficial  improvements  on  lands  and  tenements  held  for  limited 
periods;  therefore,  be  it  enacted,  etc." 

T.  W.  Eussell,  M.  P. — "The  common  law  in  regard  to  tenants* 
improvements,  previous  to  the  act  of  1881,  was  that  they  belonged 
to  the  landlord.  This  law  put  into  the  landlords'  pockets  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  pounds  of  the  tenants'  capital.  It  enabled  the 
landlords  to  gather  where  they  had  not  strewed,  to  reap  where  they 
had  not  sown;  it  enabled  them  to  rob  the  tenants  by  what  is  called 
'due  process  of  law.'  " 

This  is  a  brief  explanation,  supplied  by  impartial 
authority,  of  the  villainous  conditions  under  which  the  Irish 
farmers  existed  for  generations.  In  the  province  of  Ulster, 
as  already  stated,  the  large  proportion  of  English  and  Scotch 
settlers  caused  the  growth  of  a  more  equitable  arrangement, 
known  to  this  day  as  the  Ulster  Custom.  It  was  legalized 
and  extended  in  1870.  Under  it  the  tenant  has  a  proprietary 
interest  in  his  land,  on  account  of  any  improvements  he  has 
made.  The  landlords  are  now  fighting  bitterly  to  abrogate 
the  custom.  But,  taking  Ireland  as  a  whole,  the  mildest 
term  to  apply  to  the  land  system  as  it  was  is  "legalized  rob- 
bery of  the  poor!"  It  remains  now  to  show  how  justice  is 
tardily  winning  its  way. 


IV 


EFFECTS  OF  LANDLORDISM 

Under  the  grotesque  land  system  which  I  have 
attempted  to  describe  the  condition  of  the  Irish  peasantry — 
practically  the  whole  population — steadily  became  worse. 
The  population — 4,000,000  in  1800 — more  than  doubled 
in  the  next  fifty  years,  while  poverty  continued  its  remorseless 
spread.  The  situation  may  be  imagined  from  an  official 
description  of  conditions  in  certain  districts  only  ten  years 
ago.  A  report  presented  by  Lord  Balfour,  of  Burleigh,  and 
Lord  Blair  Balfour  said: 

"In  these  districts  there  are  two  classes,  namely,  the 
poor  and  the  destitute.  There  are  hardly  any  resident 
gentry;  there  are  a  few  traders  and  officials,  but  nearly  all 
the  inhabitants  are  either  poor  or  on  the  verge  of  poverty." 

How  much  worse  must  it  have  been  seventy-five  years 
ago,  fifty  years  before  the  most  elementary  reform  was 
adopted!    Says  Mr.  T.  W.  Russell: 

"The  country  was,  to  a  large  extent,  a  rabbit-warren 
of  paupers  and  beggars.  The  laws  regulating  the  tenure  of 
land — land  being  the  sole  source  of  livelihood  for  the  great 
mass  of  the  people — were  perhaps  the  most  iniquitous  and 
unjust  that  ever  disgraced  any  statute  book  in  a  civilized 
country.  Trade  and  commerce  were  paralyzed.  Law  had 
ceased  to  be  a  terror  to  evildoers,  because  no  punishment  that 
it  was  capable  of  awarding  could  be  worse  than  the  fate  of 
the  dumb  millions  condemned  to  what  was  little  better  than 
a  living  death." 

Yet  it  was  not  until  1835  t0  !^43  that  the  heartrending 
appeals  of  the  Irish  people  could  obtain  even  a  hearing. 
During  that  period  three  bills  were  introduced,  all  having 
substantially  the  same  objects — to  protect  the  tenant  against 
capricious  eviction  and  to  secure  to  him  reasonable  compen- 
sation, on  being  evicted,  for  the  improvements  which  he  had 
made  on  the  land  by  his  own  unaided  labor.   And  the  result? 

21 


22 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


Every  bill,  these  and  others,  was  defeated,  voted  down  con- 
temptuously by  the  Parliament,  where  the  landlords  were  in 
absolute  control.  Even  the  plea  that  the  systematic  robbery 
of  the  tenants'  labor  should  cease  was  denied.  In  1845  tne 
commission  headed  by  the  Earl  of  Devon  reported.  I  have 
already  quoted  some  of  its  recommendations.  Surely  this 
might  have  been  accepted  as  a  just  estimate  of  the  terrible 
conditions.  Yet  twenty-five  years  passed  before  the  English 
government  raised  a  hand  to  ameliorate  the  cruel  injustice  of 
the  land  system.  Gladstone's  bill  of  1870  was  the  first  act 
of  mercy. 

But  long  before  this  conditions  which  had  been  shocking 
had  become  ghastly.  As  had  been  shown,  even  in  years  when 
crops  were  reasonably  good,  the  people  were  barely  able  to 
pay  the  exorbitant  rents  of  their  masters  and  keep  life  in 
their  own  bodies,  while  a  touch  of  blight  or  unseasonable 
frost,  or  any  reduction  in  the  crop  yield,  caused  universal 
destitution.  And  then  the  yield  was  a  huge  crop  of  evictions. 
With  the  people  thus  constantly  on  the  edge  of  starvation, 
there  befell  the  frightful  catastrophe  of  the  great  famine. 
Potatoes  formed  almost  the  only  food  of  the  peasantry.  In 
1845  tne  potato  disease  appeared,  and  in  1846-47  the  whole 
crop  vanished.  The  story  of  those  years  forms  probably  the 
most  ghastly  record  of  modern  times.  There  is  no  need  to 
retell  it  here.  Men,  women  and  children  starved  to  death 
by  thousands.  The  official  report  of  the  Census  Commission 
in  1 85 1,  after  commenting  upon  the  frightful  death  rate, 
said  this: 

"But  no  pen  has  recorded  the  numbers  of  the  forlorn 
and  starving  who  perished  by  the  wayside  or  in  the  ditches, 
or  of  the  mournful  groups,  sometimes  whole  families,  who 
lay  down  and  died,  one  after  another,  upon  the  floor  of  their 
cabin,  and  so  remained  uncoffined  and  unburied  until  chance 
unveiled  the  appalling  scene.  No  such  amount  of  suffering 
and  misery  has  been  chronicled  in  Irish  history  since  the  days 
of  Edward  Bruce;  and  yet,  through  all,  the  forbearance  of 
the  Irish  peasantry  and  the  calm  submission  with  which  they 
bore  the  deadliest  ills  that  can  fall  on  man  can  scarcely  be 
paralleled  in  the  annals  of  any  people." 

"But  at  least,"  says  the  justice-loving  American,  "the 


EFFECTS  OF  LANDLORDISM 


23 


sufferings  of  the  famine  days  brought  some  good.  It  called 
attention  to  the  poverty  of  the  people  and  the  injustice  of  the 
system  whereby  they  were  made  land  slaves  to  the  land- 
lords." 

Honest  Englishmen  to-day  are  ashamed  that  such  a  sup- 
position is  not  true.  Not  only  did  the  famine  fail  to  hasten 
mercy,  but  it  was  used  by  the  landlords  to  inflict  further 
hardship  and  suffering  upon  the  helpless  people.  Evictions 
were  enforced  by  wholesale.  Only  one  question  was  put  to 
the  tenants :  "Could  they  pay  the  rent?"  As  they  could  not 
even  buy  food,  the  question  answered  itself.  And  by  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  the  starving  peasants  were 
turned  out  on  the  roadside.  This,  of  course,  is  ancient  his- 
tory', and  the  impatient  reader  demands  to  know  what  the 
famine  of  1847  nas  to  do  with  conditions  in  Ireland  in  1902. 
It  has  everything  to  do  with  it.  For  it  was  the  famine  and 
the  evictions  which  followed  which  started  the  flight  of  the 
Irish  from  their  own  land,  to  continue  to  this  day.  There 
axe  thousands  who  read  this  story  whose  fathers  or  grand- 
fathers were  victims  of  the  eviction  raids  of  '47,  and  who 
went,  with  countless  thousands  of  their  countrymen,  to  seek 
life  and  liberty  in  the  United  States. 

The  record  of  Irish  emigration  during  the  last  fifty 
years  must  be  appalling  to  those  whose  hearts  leap  with 
patriotic  love  for  the  stricken  land.  The  famine  and  the 
cruelty  of  the  laws  caused  a  veritable  stampede  to  America. 
Thousands  who  sailed  never  reached  the  other  side  of  the 
ocean,  for  the  rush  was  so  great  that  "coffin  ships"  laden 
with  emigrants  put  out  from  Irish  ports  and  foundered  at 
sea.  But  millions  did  make  the  sad  journey  safely.  The 
current  then  set  in  motion  has  never  ceased.  Year  after  year 
it  has  flowed  westward,  the  young  and  vigorous  of  the  race 
giving  up  the  struggle  here  and  seeking  justice  in  a  strange 
land.  Between  1851  and  1900,  3,841,419  persons  emi- 
grated from  Ireland.  Even  the  reforms  of  the  last  thirty 
years  have  hardly  checked  the  tide  to  an  appreciable  extent. 
Not  until  full  justice  and  liberty  are  granted  to  Ireland  will 
her  sons  and  daughters  find  life  supportable  in  the  land  they 
love. 

What  a  frightful  record  it  is!    Of  the  9,000,000  who 


24  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 

inhabited  Ireland  in  1845,  more  than  half"  have  disappeared 
by  death  and  emigration.  Half  a  nation  has  been  swept 
away,  and  the  rest  are  going.  For  even  to-day  no  ship  leaves 
these  shores  without  Irish  emigrants,  and  the  deaths  are 
greater  in  number  than  the  births.  Ireland  is  slowly  perishing. 

But  what  of  the  amelioration  already  accomplished? 
The  reformls  adopted  during  the  last  thirty  years  amount  to 
a  revolution,  yet  they  have  accomplished  only  a  fraction  of 
what  is  necessary.  A  brief  review  of  present  laws  must  be 
given. 

The  turning  point  was  the  Fenian  Rebellion  of  1866. 
The  morality  of  that  uprising  need  not  be  discussed  here, 
but  the  fact  remains  that  the  rebellion  attracted  the  attention 
which  no  appeals  had  been  able  to  attract;  that  within  five 
years  the  first  reform,  fought  for  at  the  cost  of  blood  and 
tears,  wretchedness  and  starvation,  through  seventy  long 
years,  was  finally  won.  John  Bright  was  the  first  Protestant 
Englishman  of  note  to  champion  the  cause  of  oppressed  Ire- 
land, and  to  do  so  he  braved  calumny,  abuse  and  even  ostra- 
cism. Then  arose  Gladstone,  that  lion  in  statesmanship, 
whose  name  must  ever  be  honored  by  the  Irish  people. 

His  Act  of  1870,  though  to-day  we  regard  it  as  the 
merest  step  toward  justice,  was  in  those  days  a  priceless  boon 
to  the  starving  nation.  It  established  for  the  first  time  and 
for  all  time  that  the  tenant  who  devotes  years  of  labor  to 
clearing  land  and  erecting  buildings  thereby  acquires  a  pro- 
prietary interest  in  the  whole,  and  that  the  product  of  his 
toil  cannot  be  taken  from  him  without  payment.  The  prin- 
ciple was  not  stated  in  its  full  strength,  but  later  acts  which 
superseded  the  Act  of  1870  made  the  foundation  solid. 
Further,  and  quite  as  important,  the  act  forbade  capricious 
eviction,  or  rather  provided  that  such  summary  action  should 
be  accompanied  by  remuneration. 

Needless  to  say,  the  right  of  the  landlord  to  evict  a 
tenant  under  certain  circumstances  has  never  been  questioned. 
The  only  thing  restricted  was  the  custom  of  arbitrary  eviction 
without  cause.  An  elaborate  system  of  compensation  was 
established,  whereby  the  evicted  tenant,  or  the  tenant  leaving 
his  farm  for  whatever  cause,  had  a  claim  for  remuneration 
for  the  improvements  he  had  made,  and  also  for  ejection,  if 


EFFECTS  OF  LANDLORDISM 


2; 


such  were  invoked  against  his  will.  This,  though  few  persons 
realized  it,  was  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  occupying 
tenant,  by  his  labor,  created  not  only  a  property  right,  but 
an  occupation  right.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  doom 
of  landlordism],  now  moving  irresistibly  to  its  end. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  as  soon  as  the  landlords 
awoke  to  the  significance  of  the  law  some  of  them  began  a 
systematic  campaign  to  evade  its  provisions. 

A  word  of  explanation  is  due  here.  There  is  no  neces- 
sity to  say  that  all  landlords  are  not  greedy  oppressors. 
There  have  been  and  are  to-day  among  them  men  of  the  very 
highest  principle — men  who  believe  in  and  practice  fair  deal- 
ing with  their  tenants.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  most  of 
them  have  been  obdurate  and  selfish  in  taking  advantage  of 
unjust  laws.  But  it  should  be  remembered  that  all  this 
oppression  cannot  be  charged  to  titled  Englishmen,  for  the 
following  reason : 

Appalled  by  the  horrors  of  the  famine,  the  Parliament, 
with  the  usual  misconception  of  the  trouble,  applied  the 
remedy  of  changing  landlords.  It  was  deemed  wise  that 
landlords  who,  through  their  own  improvidence  or  the  burden 
of  ancestral  debts,  could  not  discharge  the  obligations  of 
landlordism  as  it  existed  in  England — mark  the  ignorance — 
should  be  compelled  to  give  up  their  holdings.  The  cry  went 
up  that  Ireland  needed  capital.  Therefore,  in  1848  the 
Incumbered  Estates  Act  was  passed.  Sir  Charles  Russell, 
afterward  Lord  Chief  Justice,  said  of  it  a  few  years  ago: 

"It  is  hardly  conceivable  that  a  Legislature  should  have 
so  misconceived  the  position.  What  did  the  act  do?  It  sold 
the  estates  of  the  bankrupt  landlords  to  men  with  capital, 
who  were  mainly  jobbers  in  land,  sold  them  with  the  accumu- 
lated improvements  and  interests  of  the  tenants  and  without 
the  slightest  protection  to  the  tenants  against  forfeiture  and 
confiscation  of  these  improvements  by  the  new  owners. 

"It  proved  a  cause  of  the  gravest  evil,  for  it  is  literally 
true  to  say  that  among  the  worst  cases  of  landlord  oppression 
in  Ireland  have  been  the  cases  of  men  who,  with  their  fresh 
capital,  came  in  and  bought  these  estates;  jobbers  in  land 
who  were  not  restrained  by  any  feelings  of  kindness  because 
of  ancient  connection  with  an  ancient  peasantry  and  an  ancient 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


proprietary  house.  I  have  seen  property  after  property  sold 
in  that  court,  in  which,  as  an  inducement  to  the  intending 
buyer,  were  held  forth  the  alleged  low  rentals  at  which  the 
property  was  then  let  and  the  possibility  that  he  might,  by 
i  ther  turn  of  the  screw,  raise  the  rent  and  increase  his 
percentage  return  on  the  land." 

When  they  came  to  take  advantage  of  the  Act  of  1870, 
therefore,  many  of  the  tenants  found  that  the  landlords, 
those  whose  only  idea  was  to  squeeze  the  last  penny  out  of 
the  land,  had  methods  of  evasion.  The  act  provided  no 
means  for  resisting  capricious  rent-raising.  Hence  the  land- 
lord, compelled  to  compensate  an  evicted  tenant  for  that 
tenant's  buildings  and  improvements,  simply  recouped  him- 
self by  raising  the  rent  to  the  incoming  tenant.  Again,  by 
working  on  the  tenants'  fears  of  being  dispossessed  without 
cause,  they  induced  many  of  them  to  sign  long-term  leases, 
the  harassed  farmer  being  willing  to  sign  almost  any  con- 
tract so  as  to  be  assured  of  possession  of  his  farm  for  a 
stated  period.    Sir  Charles  Russell  said: 

"Leases  were  forced  upon  the  tenants  wholesale;  con- 
tracts were  made  by  which  the  tenants  contracted  themselves 
out  of  benefits  of  the  act." 

This  law  was  therefore  soon  made  useless.  Then  came 
bad  crop  seasons,  in  1879-80.  As  was  inevitable,  the  tenants 
could  not  stand  the  strain,  living  always,  as  they  did,  at  the 
limit  of  their  resources.  Again  wholesale  evictions  took 
place.  The  Land  League  was  formed,  and  became  a  terrible 
power,  supported  chiefly  by  the  money  of  Irishmen  in 
America.  The  whole  land  was  racked  with  crime.  Boycot- 
ting, cattle-maiming,  assault,  burning,  assassination  shocked 
the  world.  And  once  more  the  Irish  people  learned  the  dan- 
gerous lesson  that  an  outburst  of  violence  was  always 
followed  by  concession.  The  Bessborough  Commission 
reported,  and  the  way  was  clear  for  the  great  charter  of  the 
Irish  farmer,  the  Act  of  1881. 

Having  reached  this  point,  we  may  properly  hasten  the 
review.  The  bill  established  three  great  principles — the 
three  identical  principles  which  had  been  fought  for  by  one 
of  the  Land  Leagues  in  1851 — namely,  fair  rent,  fixity  of 
L.nure,  free  sale.    These  were  known  then,  and  are  known 


EFFECTS  OF  LANDLORDISM 


27 


now,  as  the  three  F's,  and  their  adoption  was  the  beginning 
of  justice  for  the  Irish  farmer.  Under  these  provisions  the 
law  discriminated  between  the  land,  the  property  of  the  land- 
lord, and  the  improvements,  the  property  of  the  tenant.  A 
tribunal  was  created  to  hear  evidence  impartially  and  period- 
ically to  fix  reasonable  rents  upon  the  lands;  the  improve- 
ments were  not  to  be  alienated  from  the  tenant.  His  tenure 
was  to  be  fixed — he  could  not  be  evicted  except  for  refusal  to 
pay  the  rents  named  by  the  court,  or  other  reasonable  cause. 
And  he  had  a  certain  right  of  sale  of  his  interest  in  the 
property. 

This  bill,  as  stated,  conferred  upon  the  tenants  the 
greatest  measure  of  justice  they  had  ever  received.  But  it 
had  serious  defects.  It  applied  only  to  yearly  tenants. 
Leaseholders — there  were  35,000  of  them — were  excluded 
from  the  benefits.  Thus  one  farmer  could  claim  the  protec- 
tion of  the  court,  while  his  neighbor  a  hundred  yards  away 
was  powerless.  It  was  six  years  before  this  injustice  was 
remedied  in  part  and  nine  years  before  it  was  remedied  com- 
pletely. Since  that  time  more  than  30,000  leaseholders  have 
had  their  rents  reduced  by  the  court.  But,  as  before,  the 
administration  of  the  law  was  defective.  An  inquiry  in  1S94 
showed  that  the  valuations  had  been  made  too  high  and 
that  under  a  famous  decision — Adams  vs.  Dunseath — the 
landlords  were  still  collecting  rent  upon  houses  and  other 
improvements  made  by  the  tenants.  Supplemental  bills  in 
1887,  1890  and  1896  improved  matters  very  much.  But 
still  there  was  a  weak  point,  and  it  still  exists.  That  is,  the 
very  Land  Commission  in  whose  hands  rest  the  poor  for- 
tunes of  the  tenants.  On  this  point  I  quote  Mr.  T.  W. 
Russell  : 

"The  commission  now  consists  of  two  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  and  four  laymen.  Out  of  the  six  members 
of  this  great  department,  which  deals  with  almost  the  entire 
landed  property  of  the  country,  only  two  have  even  the  most 
elementary  knowledge  of  land,  and  only  one  is  recognized 
by  the  tenants  as  having  the  slightest  regard  for  their  inter- 
ests. This  is  the  exact  position  to-day.  No  person  in  Ire- 
land, be  he  landlord  or  tenant,  professes  to  have  the  slightest 
confidence  in  this  court.    It  is  not  that  anybody  imputes  or 


28 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


thinks  of  corruption — nothing  of  the  kind — but  it  is  univer- 
sally felt  that  bias  and  prejudice  exist  to  such  an  extent  as 
morally  to  invalidate  its  whole  procedure." 

Furthermore,  the  court  has  failed  to  settle  the  dispute 
over  improvements  made  by  tenants.  The  rents,  it  should 
be  understood,  are  fixed  for  periods  of  fifteen  years.  A 
tenant  may  have  proved  to  the  court  in  1882  that  he  erected 
certain  buildings  and  made  certain  improvements.  But  at 
the  end  of  the  period  he  must  prove  it  all  over  again  in 
order  to  get  a  new,  reasonable  valuation.  Many  of  the 
records  have  disappeared,  witnesses  are  dead  or  abroad — 
and  the  landlord  calmly  demands  proof  of  every  single  claim 
advanced.  Facing  these  difficulties,  and  knowing  that  he  can 
get  justice  only  by  long  litigation  and  at  great  proportionate 
expense,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  hapless  tenant  still  com- 
plains. 

This,  then,  is  the  record  of  the  hundred  years,  very 
briefly  and  imperfectly  told.  When  those  who  hope  for 
Ireland's  future  hear  sneers  about  "chronic  discontent"  and 
"foolish  agitation,"  let  them  ask  the  critics  of  a  struggling 
people  to  remember  these  things :  That  for  seventy  years 
of  the  last  century — the  century  of  enlightenment  and  prog- 
ress— the  Irish  peasantry  groaned  under  a  villainous  system 
of  oppression  and  robbery,  and  that  all  their  appeals  went 
unheard;  that  the  reform  of  1870  was  rendered  invalid  by 
the  astute  maneuvers  of  unscrupulous  landholders;  that  even 
the  great  Act  of  1881  and  those  which  followed  have  left 
many  thousands  in  misery;  that  to-day,  in  this  year  of  grace 
1902,  a  half  million  people  are  living  under  conditions  which 
are  a  disgrace  to  civilization,  and  that  the  poverty  and  desti- 
tution— I  have  seen  a  little  and  am  sick  with  it — are  to-day 
due  wholly  and  solely  to  the  iniquities  of  the  land  system. 

Much,  truly,  has  been  gained  in  the  last  thirty  years. 
But  still  the  cry  of  Ireland,  the  cry  of  a  suffering  nation,  is 
heard  through  the  earth.  In  the  name  of  gratitude  and 
common  sense,  says  the  impatient  American,  what  do  these 
Irish  want  more?   We  shall  see. 


V 


*VIEWS  OF  AN  AGITATOR 

Though  the  little  town  of  Westport  is  almost  at  the 
extreme  western  part  of  Ireland,  a  leisurely  train  made  the 
journey  from  Dublin  in  about  seven  hours.  This  is  to  be 
the  starting  point  for  a  personal  investigation  of  the  land 
problem,  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  result  in  presenting  a  clear 
picture  of  the  conditions  which  exist  to-day  because  of  cen- 
turies of  misgovernment. 

The  primary  object  in  coming  here  was  to  see  William 
O'Brien,  M.  P.,  whose  name  is  written  near  the  top  of  that 
long  roll  of  Irish  "rebels."  What  manner  of  man  was  I  to 
find  in  this  terrible  agitator?  Would  I  see  him'  fashioning 
bombs  in  a  secret  laboratory,  or  issuing  manifestoes  of  vio- 
lence against  the  patient  English  government?  Would  he 
denounce  the  royal  family  and  Dublin  Castle  and  hiss  threats 
of  bloody  revolution  ? 

A  two-mile  drive  on  a  jaunting  car  through  the  cold 
winter  twilight  brought  me  to  the  home  of  the  famous 
leader.  It  is  on  the  shore  of  Westport  Bay,  with  its  dotted 
islets.  Six  or  eight  miles  away  rises  the  rugged  cone  of 
Croagh  Patrick,  whence  the  Saint,  with  bell  and  voice,  is 
said  to  have  driven  the  serpents  into  the  sea.  A  roomy 
cottage,  one  story,  covered  with  green  vines  and  set  in  a 
pretty  garden;  inside,  big,  comfortable  rooms;  the  library 
table  littered  with  papers,  the  walls  lined  with  books;  dainty 
ornaments,  fine  pictures,  a  blazing  fire  of  peat;  a  bearded 
man,  whose  eyes  twinkled  through  thick  glasses,  and  whose 
air  suggested  the  student  and  not  the  leader — this  was  the 
home  of  the  agitator  and  the  man  himself. 

*This  chapter  was  written  in  Westport,  County  Mayo,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1902.  Mr.  O'Brien  withdrew  in  1908  from  active  association  with 
the  leaders  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party,  because  of  differences 
upon  details  of  policy,  but  his  sympathy  with  the  Irish  cause  and  his 
knowledge  of  Irish  affairs  have  never  been  questioned. 

29 


30  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


We  talked  for  nearly  two  hours.  I  shall  try  to  sum- 
marize Mr.  O'Brien's  statements,  which  have  a  vital  bearing 
upon  the  central  question  of  the  land. 

"As  you  are  already  aware,"  he  said,  uthe  only  solution 
of  the  problem  is  to  restore  the  land  to  the  people  from 
whose  ancestors  it  was  taken  by  force  and  fraud,  and  the 
restoration  is  to  be  made  by  purchase,  which  will  do  ample 
justice  to  the  present  owners. 

"But  nature  and  the  operation  of  the  laws  have  divided 
the  problem  into  two  parts.  In  the  east,  where  the  land  is 
rich,  the  only  thing  necessary  is  to  arrange  that  the  tenants 
may  purchase  their  holdings,  which  in  most  cases  are  suffi- 
cient to  support  them.  But  in  the  west  the  problem  is 
entirely  different  and  entirely  distinct.  Here  we  have  what 
are  known  as  congested  districts.  The  population  is  not 
excessive — indeed,  it  is  only  a  fraction  of  what  the  land  can 
support — but  it  is  congested  in  districts  where  the  land  is  so 
poor  that  the  life  of  the  people  is  nothing  less  than  long- 
drawn-out  misery. 

"In  a  single  sentence,  the  condition  is  this — where  there 
is  plenty  of  good  land,  there  are  no  people ;  where  there  is  no 
land  but  bog  and  rocky  mountain  side,  there  the  people  are 
huddled  in  poverty  and  destitution.  These  congested  dis- 
tricts comprise  a  large  part  of  Galway,  Mayo  and  Donegal, 
with  portions  of  Leitrim,  Sligo,  Roscommon,  Clare,  Lim- 
erick, Kerry  and  Cork  counties. 

"As  you  travel  through  the  country,  as  you  say  you  are 
going  to  do,  you  will  observe  personally  the  frightful  condi- 
tions that  prevail.  But  it  is  officially  described  in  eloquent 
terms.  These  unhappy  districts  for  the  last  eleven  years 
have  been  under  the  charge  of  the  Congested  Districts 
Board,  a  body  created  under  the  Purchase  of  Land  Act  of 
1891. 

"Under  that  act  a  congested  district  is  one  where  more 
than  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  population  live  in  electoral  divi- 
sions, of  which  the  total  ratable  value,  divided  by  the  popu- 
lation, gives  a  sum  of  less  than  thirty  shillings  for  each 
person;  in  plainer  terms,  where  the  yearly  rental  of  the 
property  upon  which  the  people  live  is  less  than  $7.50  for 
each  person. 


VIEWS  OF  AN  AGITATOR  $i 


"The  districts  altogether  comprise  more  than  3,500,000 
acres,  and  the  basis  of  taxation  amounts  to  about  $5  for  each 
person.  Here  are  half  a  million  people,  therefore,  who  are 
rated  as  possessing  property  worth  only  $5  a  year  each. 
That  gives  a  faint  idea  of  how  close  they  are  to  destitution, 
even  in  the  best  of  seasons. 

"Now,  I  must  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  trouble  is  net 
due  to  over-population.  On  the  contrary,  famine,  persecu- 
tion and  emigration  have  drained  the  country  of  millions 
who  ought  to  be  here.  There  are  millions  of  acres  of  land 
fit  for  rich  crops,  but  from  these  the  people  are  shut  out  and 
are  herded  on  miserable  patches  which  barely  keep  them 
from  starvation.  The  task  is  to  redistribute  the  population, 
to  acquire  the  rich  lands  from  the  present  owners  and  divide 
them  up  among  the  suffering  people.  In  a  word,  we  must 
recolonize  practically  the  whole  of  the  western  part  of  Ire- 
land. After  centuries  of  so-called  civilized  government,  we 
must  begin  afresh,  as  though  this  were  a  new  country. 

"Since  you  have  studied  the  question  somewhat,  I  do 
not  need  to  tell  you  that  the  pitiable  conditions  now  existing 
are  not  due  to  lack  of  thrift  or  endeavor  on  the  part  of  the 
people.  You  know  the  history  of  the  wars  and  confiscations 
and  the  outrageous  system  of  land  tenure,  which  combined 
to  make  the  people  the  absolute  slaves  of  the  landlords.  It 
was  during  and  after  the  famine  years  of  1846-47  that  the 
great  "clearing  out"  was  accomplished.  The  land  stricken 
by  loss  of  crops  and  the  people  weakened  by  hunger  and  dis- 
ease, they  were  wholly  powerless  against  the  savagery  of  the 
land  laws  and  the  brutality  of  some  of  the  landlords.  By 
countless  thousands  they  were  driven  from  their  farms.  In 
many  cases  there  was  the  excuse  that  the  tenant,  could  not 
pay  rent.  In  many  more,  families  which  did  not  owe  a 
shilling  of  arrears  were  turned  out  with  the  rest. 

"At  that  time,  you  remember,  and  until  1881,  the  land- 
lord could  dispossess  the  tenant  at  will  and  seize  the  houses 
and  other  improvements  which  the  tenant  had  made  by  years 
of  labor.  Under  these  cruel  laws,  then,  whole  districts  were 
depopulated,  and  the  unfortunate  people  had  to  start  afresh. 

"Where  could  they  go?  Nearly  every  acre  of  good 
land  was  held  by  the  landlords,  and  these  refused  to  rent. 


32 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


Tired  of  the  constant  struggle  of  the  tenants  against  injus- 
tice, the  owners  let  their  great  domains  to  big  grazers.  In 
your  tours  you  will  see  miles  upon  miles  of  the  best  land  in 
Ireland,  once  the  homes  of  thousands  of  people,  now  given 
over  to  cattle  and  sheep. 

"And  where  did  the  people  go?  You  will  find  them, 
too.  You  will  find  them  in  the  bogs,  on  the  waste  land; 
their  miserable  hovels  clinging  to  the  hillsides,  where  their 
poor  little  crops  try  to  struggle  up  through  rocks  and  stones. 
Driven  there  by  remorseless  laws,  with  rich  land  all  about 
them,  they  toil  in  the  barrens,  fighting  desperately  against 
starvation — and  still  paying  rent. 

"You  will  see  with  your  own  eyes  how  poor  these 
people  are.  But  let  me  tell  you  one  thing — and  you  will  find 
this  in  official  reports :  The  people  actually  would  starve  if 
they  depended  upon  the  miserable  patches  for  which  they 
pay  exorbitant  rents. 

"They  are  supported  and  kept  alive  by  remittances 
from  their  relatives  in  America  and  England. 

"This  will  seem  incredible  to  you  when  I  say  that  it 
applies,  not  to  a  family  here  and  there,  or  to  scattered  locali- 
ties, but  to  thousands  upon  thousands  of  families,  to  nearly 
half  a  million  souls.  Every  year  there  is  a  huge  migration 
to  England  and  Scotland.  By  thousands  the  strongest  go  to 
work  on  the  farms  during  the  summer  and  harvest  in  order 
to  earn  a  few  pounds  which  shall  keep  them  and  their 
families  alive  during  the  winter  and  meet  the  demands  of 
the  landlords  for  rent.  The  men  go,  the  youths  go,  the 
boys  go,  the  girls  as  young  as  fifteen  and  sixteen  go,  some  for 
three  months,  some  for  six  or  eight  months  in  each  year. 

"Leaving  one  or  two  of  each  family — usually  the 
mother  and  younger  children — to  care  for  the  cabin  and 
potato  patch  and  the  pig,  they  travel  to  England  and  Scotland, 
and  there  tramip  from  farm  to  farm,  working  from  dawn  to 
dusk  and  sleeping  in  outhouses,  so  that  they  may  earn  the 
price  of  food  and  rent  for  the  winter.  Even  this  terrible 
sacrifice  is  not  enough,  and  thousands  are  kept  from  dying 
of  hunger  only  by  the  money  sent  from  relatives  in  America. 

"This  is  the  problem  of  the  West,  the  most  pressing 
problem  which  confronts  us,  for  it  is  a  problem  of  life  and 


VIEWS  OF  AN  AGITATOR 


33 


death.  It  is  not  new.  It  has  been  with  us  for  fifty  years. 
But  wrhile  death  and  emigration  have  decimated  the  people, 
the  English  government  has  been  blind  and  deaf.  At  last 
we  see  hope  ahead." 

"What  is  the  plan  of  relief?"  I  asked. 

"There  is  only  one  solution,"  answered  Mr.  O'Brien. 
"Landlordism  must  be  abolished.  The  people  must  be  res- 
cued from  the  bo<gs  and  barrens  and  placed  on  good  lands. 
All  they  need  is  a  chance.  Give  them  a  decent  patch  of  good 
land  and  they  will  become  self-supporting  rapidly." 

"And  how  can  this  transfer  be  effected  with  justice  to 
the  landlords  and  justice  to  the  tenants?" 

"The  only  possible  method  is  purchase  by  the  govern- 
ment for  the  people,  with  easy  terms  of  repayment.  Both 
landlords  and  tenants  are  heartily  sick  of  the  present  system. 

"Gladstone's  Act  of  i  8  8 1  was  a  magnificent  advance  for 
us,  but  its  workings  have  not  been  satisfactory.  It  estab- 
lished a  land  commission,  which  fixes  so-called  fair  rents  for 
periods  of  fifteen  years.  The  rents,  where  applications  have 
been  made,  have  been  greatly  reduced,  which  does  not  please 
the  landlords.  But  the  members  of  the  commission  have  no 
practical  knowledge  of  land  values,  hence  most  of  their  judg- 
ments are  unfair  to  the  tenants. 

"Besides,  in  the  congested  districts  the  vital  question  is 
not  to  reduce  the  rents,  but  to  let  the  people  have  lands  which 
are  capable  of  yielding  life-sustaining  crops.  There  are 
thousands  of  'farms'  which  are  so  wretched  that,  even  if  the 
tenants  had  them  rent  free,  they  could  not  raise  enough  on 
them  to  feed  their  families.  The  good  lands  must  be  pur- 
chased and  divided  up  among  the  people.  They  will  then 
wrork  out  their  own  salvation. 

"Roughly  speaking,  the  plan  is  for  the  government  to 
buy  out  the  landlords  by  a  certain  number  of  yearly  pay- 
ments and  resell  to  the  tenants  in  instalments  which  shall 
amount  to  a  just  rental,  and  which  will  liquidate  the  purchase 
in  a  certain  number  of  years. 

"The  difficulty,  of  course,  is  to  bridge  over  the  differ- 
ence between  what  the  landlord  is  willing  to  accept  and  what 
the  tenant  is  able  to  pay.  This  suggestion  is  made:  Under 
the  various  purchase  acts,  the  average  term  of  purchase 

3 


34 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


would  be  eighteen  years.  Suppose  that  on  the  basis  of  pres- 
ent rents  the  landlords  should  get  payments  for  twenty  years, 
while  the  tenant  should  be  expected  to  pay  for  only  sixteen 
years.  Then  let  the  government  assume  the  payments  for 
the  other  four  years. 

"But,  you  say,  how  can  this  immense  burden  be  placed 
upon  the  innocent  English  taxpayer?  No  such  thing  is  con- 
templated. Ireland  will  pay  the  whole  bill.  Let  there  be 
an  equitable  redistribution  of  expenses,  and  she  will  not  need 
to  ask  for  a  penny  of  English  money. 

"For  instance,  take  the  police,  the  Royal  Irish  Constabu- 
lary. This  great  force,  numbering  13,000  men,  is  controlled 
absolutely  from  London,  is  paid  for  by  the  Irish  people  and 
is  kept  up  solely  to  help  the  landlords  in  their  struggle 
against  the  tenants.  Once  settle  the  land  question,  and  the 
need  for  this  great  standing  army  disappears.  Let  the 
people  have  good  lands,  fit  to  support  life,  and  all  cause  for 
agitation  disappears.  ^ 
*  "There  will  be  no  more  organizations  against  land- 
lords, no  more  campaigns  against  paying  rent,  for  then  the 
rent  will  be  purchase  money,  and  no  more  outbursts  of  vio- 
lence. The  people  will  be  busy  tilling  their  land  and  paying 
for  it.  Once  give  them  a  chance  to  support  themselves  and 
Ireland  will  have  a  peace  such  as  she  has  not  known  for 
generations. 

"Land  purchase,  of  course,  has  been  going  on  for  years, 
but  the  process  is  desperately  slow.  The  Congested  Districts 
Board  is  empowered  to  negotiate  with  landlords  willing  to 
sell ;  but  the  result,  while  it  proves  the  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem, has  affected  only  a  few  of  the  immense  number  of 
sufferers. 

"Therefore,  to  solve  the  problem  completely  and  finally, 
the  purchase  must  be  universal,  and  the  misery  of  a  half 
million  people  pleads  that  it  should  be  immediate.  Com- 
pulsion, I  believe,  is  the  only  adequate  plan.  Action  must  be 
taken  wholesale,  and  at  once,  if  we  are  to  relieve  the  suffer- 
ings of  Ireland  and  stop  the  frightful  drain  of  emigration. 

"In  this  province  of  Connaught  there  are  more  than 
2,000,000  acres  of  rich  land,  on  which  you  will  find  only 
cattle,  sheep  and  a  few  herdsmen.    Let  down  the  bars  of 


A  RELIC  OF  EVICTION  DAYS. 


VIEWS  OF  AN  AGITATOR 


35 


law  and  prejudice,  let  the  people  buy  back  the  lands  from 
which  they  were  driven,  and  there  will  be  provided  a  country 
capable  of  supporting  in  comfort  twice  the  population  which 
now  drags  out  a  miserable  existence." 

I  have  given,  I  believe,  a  correct  statement  of  Mr. 
O'Brien's  views  as  he  gave  them  to  me,  although  I  do  not 
assert  that  the  words  are  precisely  his  own. 

Upon  taking  leave  of  him  at  the  door  of  his  hospitable 
home  I  could  not  help  wondering  that  this  mild-spoken, 
studious  man,  whose  every  word  seemed  to  ring  with  com- 
mon sense  and  sympathy,  has  been  treated  as  a  dangerous 
character,  a  seditionist  and  an  enemy  to  the  state,  and  that 
he  had  spent  dreary  months  in  prison,  treated  as  a  male- 
factor, because  of  the  fight  he  has  waged  for  justice  for  the 
Irish  people. 

Perhaps,  as  they  study  his  statement,  readers  will  won- 
der the  same  thing. 

Having  traced  the  history  of  the  land  laws  under  which 
Ireland  has  suffered,  and  having  noted  the  views  of  one  of 
the  political  leaders,  it  will  be  useful  to  check  the  statements 
made  with  official  records.  Before  leaving  this  district, 
therefore,  I  have  talked  at  length  with  members  of  the  West- 
port  District  Council  (the  local  government  body),  and  have 
examined  a  report  made  by  their  special  committee  which 
investigated  a  few  weeks  ago  the  condition  of  the  people. 
To  those  who  would  turn  wearily  from  the  survey  of  figures, 
I  would  say  only  this :  The  figures  deal  with  human  beings. 
They  are  elements  in  an  equation  of  life  and  death.  They 
do  not  deal  with  mathematics,  but  with  men  and  women  and 
children. 

The  district  of  Westport  has  a  population  of  37,381 
and  a  (yearly)  valuation  of  $219,805,  or  a  little  more  than 
$5  for  each  person.  Its  area  is  347,819  acres,  enough  to 
give  each  individual  nearly  ten  acres,  or  each  family  fifty 
acres.  There  is,  therefore,  no  scarcity  of  land.  But  what 
is  the  actual  distribution? 

There  are  5322  occupiers  of  land.  Of  these,  3041  arc 
rated  under  $20  and  4089  in  all  under  $40.  Of  the  remain- 
der, at  least  500  are  barely  outside  the  limit  of  extreme 


36  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 

poverty.  But  the  most  frightful  truth  is  that  4089  occu- 
piers, and  that  means  20,000  persons,  are  crowded  on  to 
holdings  which  by  no  stretch  of  imagination  can  be  consid- 
ered capable  of  sustaining  life  in  their  bodies.  With  bound- 
less, rolling  plains  of  rich  lands  stretching  on  every  side  of 
them  ;  possessing  health  and  strength  and  inspired  with  a 
pathetic  eagerness  to  work,  these  20,000  men  and  women 
and  children  are  herded  in  the  barrens,  where  they  would 
actually  die  of  hunger  were  it  not  for  the  assistance  sent  to 
them  by  those  who  have  been  able  to  emigrate  to  America. 
And  this  condition  is  not  one  peculiar  to  a  season  of  famine. 
It  exists  year  after  year,  from  generation  to  generation;  one 
unending,  heartbreaking  struggle  with  hunger.  I  quote  the 
official  report: 

"The  inhabitants  are  only  preserved  from  year  to  year 
from  perishing  of  famine  by  the  earnings  of  the  adult  male 
population  in  their  annual  migration  to  England  and  Scot- 
land and  by  the  remittances  of  their  relatives  in  America. 
Two  special  trains  per  week  carry  emigrants  to  Queenstown 
for  America,  these  being  almost  exclusively  young  men  and 
women  from  fifteen  to  thirty-five  years  old,  in  the  flower  of 
their  age  and  strength. 

"From  Westport  alone  there  left  in  the  season  of  1901 
4178  harvesters  for  England  and  Scotland.  The  total  emi- 
gration from  the  county  since  1851  has  been  164,589. 
From  this  district  alone  30,000  have  gone — nearly  as  many 
as  the  present  population." 

Nearly  350,000  acres  of  land,  yet  even  the  remnant  of 
population  left  by  famine  and  emigration  is  drained  from 
year  to  year,  simply  because  the  unhappy  people  cannot  find 
places  to  live.  Even  though  these  are  but  figures,  could  any- 
thing picture  more  vividly  the  monstrous  conditions  under 
which  these  peasants  are  condemned  to  suffer? 

And  the  annual  migration  to  England  and  Scotland, 
eloquent  as  it  is  of  insupportable  conditions,  has  a  distinct 
and  grievous  effect  upon  the  difficulties  of  existence.  The 
little  farms  are  deprived  of  the  work  and  care  of  the  men 
and  boys.  Proper  methods  of  cultivation  are  impossible; 
the  land,  poor  at  best,  suffers  neglect,  and  outraged  nature 
takes  revenge.    There  is  no  rotation  of  crops.    Year  after 


VIEWS  OF  AN  AGITATOR 


37 


year  the  worn-out  soil  is  called  upon  to  yield  the  staple  food, 
potatoes.  As  a  result,  the  crops  grow  steadily  less.  In  Eng- 
land the  carefully  tended  soil  will  produce  more  than  six 
tons  of  potatoes  to  the  acre.  In  Westport  district  the  yield 
has  fallen  below  three  tons  an  acre.  Here  is  a  striking  pic- 
ture of  human  wretchedness,  as  officially  reported: 

"The  normal  conditions  of  life  of  20,000  of  the  popu- 
lation of  this  district  are:  Their  holdings  are  too  small  and 
too  exhausted  to  support  life,  the  soil  yearly  becoming  more 
unfit  for  cultivation;  three-fourths  of  the  adult  male  popula- 
tion are  banished  from  their  families  and  country  for  half 
the  year  in  search  of  the  hardest  and  most  poorly  recom- 
pensed labor,  and  there  is  a  constant  danger  that  the  ordi- 
nary privations  of  every  winter  will  be  turned  into  actual  and 
general  famine  by  a  few  weeks'  unfavorable  weather,  by  a 
falling  off  in  the  English  labor  market  or  by  any  serious 
depression  of  American  trade  which  may  cut  off  their  rela- 
tives' power  of  relieving  therm" 

Is  there  a  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe  where  white 
people  make  their  homes  in  which  conditions  of  such  dismal 
poverty  can  be  found?  True,  this  is  the  official  story  of  only 
one  district,  but  the  report  says,  and  I  have  proved  the  state- 
ment by  personal  observation  of  hundreds  of  miles  of  terri- 
tory, that  the  same  story  may  be  told  of  every  district  in  the 
West.  The  land  decaying,  the  people  dying  or  expatriating 
themselves,  privation  and  hunger  their  constant  companions, 
famine  an  ever-present  specter — this  is  civilization  within  a 
day's  journey  of  the  world's  greatest  capital. 

Now,  what  is  the  cause  of  this  unnatural  condition? 
We  have  shown  that  it  is  lack  of  land.  The  people  have 
been  tortured  by  land  hunger  for  generations.  Yet  all 
around  them  lie  boundless  fields  which  ache  for  cultivation, 
which  actually  are  lapsing  back  to  barrens  because  they  do 
not  feel  the  plow.  There  are  in  County  Mayo  1,327,000 
acres.  Excluding  towns,  water  area  and  those  parts  which 
are  absolutely  barren,  this  is  the  proportion : 

Growing  cereals  and  green  crops,  93,681  acres;  pastur- 
ing cattle  and  sheep,  644,463  acres. 

The  people  starve  on  one-seventh  of  the  land,  and  that 
the  meanest  to  be  found;  the  cattle  grow  fat  on  the  other 


38  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


six-sevenths,  which  is  degenerating  year  by  year  into  wild 
meadow  land. 

Take  the  Westport  district.  It  comprises  347,819 
acres.  Of  this  area,  only  15,000  acres  are  available  to  raise 
food  for  the  people.  Who  holds  the  rest  of  the  land?  The 
occupiers  may  be  divided  into  two  classes — those  men  or 
their  descendants  who  drove  the  people  from  their  farms  by 
eviction,  and  grazers  who  pasture  their  cattle  where  there 
were  once  comfortable  homies  and  fields.  To  use  figures 
again,  52,000  acres  are  held  by  thirteen  landlords  and 
98,000  acres  by  sixty-six  grazers.  It  will  be  interesting  to 
note  where  some  of  these  persons  live.  Among  the  grazers 
are  A.  H.  Boswell,  London,"  24,763  acres;  Captain  Lapri- 
mandaye,  London,  10,064  acres;  Colonel  Clive,  London, 
15,968  acres;  trustees  of  Achill  Mission,  10,000  acres. 
And  among  the  landlords  we  find  the  Marquis  of  Sligo, 
27,402  acres;  W.  C.  Kennedy,  London,  3439  acres,  and  the 
Rev.  W.  C.  Bellingham,  London,  8955  acres.  Of  the  sixty- 
six  grazers,  only  five  reside  in  the  district. 

To  clinch  the  injustice  of  the  land  distribution,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  add  that  most  of  the  land  now  used  for  pastur- 
ing the  cattle  of  landlords  and  capitalists  was  reclaimed  by 
the  arduous  toil  of  the  people  who  were  evicted  from  it. 

The  least  consideration  will  show,  therefore,  that  the 
only  remedy  for  this  cruel  system  of  injustice  is  to  place  the 
people  back  on  the  land  taken  from  them.  Nature  herself 
is  proclaiming  the  necessity  for  this.  When  the  landlords 
and  the  money  lenders  who  acquired  incumbered  estates 
drove  the  people  forth  from  their  holdings  they  were 
inspired  by  the  same  fever  for  consolidation  which  we 
observe  now  in  industrial  circles.  They  were  tired  of  the 
never-ending  pleas  and  protests  of  their  tenants  about  exces- 
sive rents  and  the  seizure  of  improvements.  Some  of  them.* 
sought  to  conduct  their  immense  holdings  as  consolidated 
farms,  but  the  greater  number  turned  them  into  pasture 
land  and  rented  them  to  grazers.  Both  schemes  during 
recent  years  have  proved  to  be  commercial  failures  as  well 
as  cruelly  unjust.  The  degeneracy  of  the  land  and  the  com- 
petition of  American  cattle  have  conspired  to  reduce  the 
profits  of  grazing  almost  to  the  vanishing  point.    The  land 


VIEWS  OF  AN  AGITATOR  39 


cries  out  for  cultivation,  and  the  starving  people,  imprisoned 
on  their  barren  patches,  are  living  arguments  that  the  cry 
should  be  heard. 

It  begins  to  be  seen  now  that  the  recolonization  of  the 
West  of  Ireland  offers  the  only  refuge  from  the  intolerable 
conditions  prevailing.  There  must  be  wholesale  migration 
of  families'  from  the  congested  districts  to  the  fertile  lands. 
The  population,  instead  of  being  confined  to  the  poorest 
lands,  must  be  spread  over  the  immense  arable  territory, 
which  is  ready  to  yield  generous  crops. 

Purchase  from  the  landlords  is,  of  course,  the  only 
means  of  accomplishing  this.  Under  various  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment purchase  has  been  authorized,  and  the  Congested  Dis- 
tricts Board  is  empowered  to  negotiate  with  landlords  willing 
to  sell.  But  the  result  so  far,  while  it  amply  justifies  the 
procedure,  has  been  trifling  in  extent.  There  remains  only 
the  complete  abolition  of  landlordism  by  a  scheme  of  pur- 
chase which  shall  be  compulsory  or  of  a  nature  so  attractive 
that  it  will  be  universally  accepted  by  the  landlords. 


VI 


*  L I  F  E  UNDER  LANDLORDISM 

It  is  a  gray  day  in  Kiltimagh.  The  clouds  lie  close 
down  over  the  green-gray  land,  and  the  short  winter  sun 
makes  little  more  than  twilight  at  noon.  But  it  is  a  fair  day, 
too,  and  as  the  jaunting  car  passes  down  the  main  street  of 
the  village  the  pony  has  to  push  his  way  through  a  jostling 
mass  of  cattle  and  sheep  and  pigs  and  tiny  donkeys  and  lusty 
peasant  folk.  They  are  all  jumbled  together  in  the  muddy 
street,  buyers  and  sellers  and  sold,  with  the  old,  gray  houses 
and  shops  on  either  side,  with  the  clamor  of  chaffering  and 
the  reek  of  the  byres  ascending  ceaselessly,  and  the  cold, 
damp  wind  of  winter  whistling  through  it  all. 

My  source  of  information  here  was  not  to  be  the  polit- 
ical leader,  or  even  the  official  report,  but  the  people  them- 
selves. I  was  to  visit  them  in  their  homes,  see  their  little 
farms,  observe  with  my  own  eyes  how  they  exist  under  the 
system  which  has  burdened  them  for  a  hundred  years  and 
more.  My  guide  was  to  be  the  Rev.  Denis  O'Hara,  parish 
priest,  who  is  the  intellect  of  the  poor  little  community.  I 
found  him  in  the  plain,  gray  parish  house,  beside  the  stately 
church,  which  looks  so  strangely  magnificent  amid  the  poverty 
of  the  village  and  the  cruel  desolation  of  the  surrounding 
country.  He  greeted  me  with  kindly  courtesy  and  my  mis- 
sion with  heartfelt  enthusiasm. 

"It  is  not  often,"  he  said,  "that  I  can  welcome  a  visitor 
from  America.  Yet  this  little  town  is  closely  bound  to  your 
far-away  country.  There  is  not  a  family  in  the  parish  which 
has  not  a  member  in  America,  and  more  go  every  year." 

Father  O'Hara  has  the  care  of  4500  men  and  women 
and  children,  and  his  days  are  fully  occupied,  yet  he  con- 
sented cheerfully  to  guide  me  through  his  parish. 

"I  have  been  fighting  for  my  people  for  twenty-three 

*Chapters  VI  and  VII  were  written  in  Kiltimagh,  County  Mayo, 
in  December,  1902. 


40 


LIFE  UNDER  LANDLORDISM  41 


years,"  he  said,  "and  it  wouid  be  strange  if  I  could  not  spare 
a  few  hours  to  show  you  their  homes,  when  the  object  is  to 
tell  the  people  of  America  how  grievously  they  sutler." 

So  we  climbed  on  the  jaunting  car,  wrapped  ourselves 
in  rugs  against  the  bitter  wind  and  drove  through  the 
crowded  fair  out  into  the  open  country,  the  white-haired 
priest  explaining  as  we  went.  The  land  itself  was  poverty 
made  manifest.  On  the  higher  parts  it  was  divided  into 
little  patches,  separated  by  walls  of  loose  stones.  The  soil, 
though  men  and  women  had  spent  years  of  toil  upon  it.  was 
still  sown  with  stones,  through  which  the  sparse  grass  or 
crops  had  to  fight  their  way.  In  the  hollows  lay  hundreds 
upon  hundreds  of  acres  of  bog,  covered  with  the  coarse, 
brown  heather  and  scarred  here  and  there  with  ditches, 
where  the  people  cut  the  turf  they  use  for  fuel. 

"All  these,  as  you  see."  said  Father  O'Hara,  "are  bad 
lands,  utterly  incapable  of  supporting  life  decently.  The 
families  whose  poor  cabins  you  see  here  and  there  were 
evicted  years  ago  from  the  rich  lands  which  lie  round  about. 
Some  of  them  could  not  pay  the  excessive  rents  imposed  by 
the  landlords :  some  of  them  were  turned  out  simply  because 
the  owners  preferred  to  let  the  lands  to  grazers.  The  result 
was  the  same  in  both  cases.  The  people,  whose  labor  had 
reclaimed  the  lands  and  made  them  ht  to  grow  crops,  were 
driven  out.  They  had  to  go  somewhere.  All  could  not 
raise  the  money  to  emigrate,  although  thousands  did.  Those 
who  remained  had  to  beg  permission  to  make  new  homes 
here,  on  these  hillside  patches  of  stony  ground  and  down  in 
the  bogs  yonder." 

"But  how  do  they  support  themselves  from  such 
wretched  land  as  this?" 

"Ah,  they  do  not.  That  would  be  quite  impossible. 
Two  acres  or  three  acres  or  four  acres,  as  the  holdings  run, 
how  could  a  family  raise  enough  for  food  and  clothing  and 
rent  from  such  miserable  holdings?  No,  they  live  by  migra- 
tion and  emigration.  The  farms,  if  you  may  call  them  such, 
average  four  acres,  and  the  rents  Si 5.  Set  aside  the  rent 
altogether,  give  them  this  land  absolutely  rent  free,  and  it  is 
the  solemn  truth  that  they  could  not  raise  enough  food  to 
keep  them  from  starv  ing.    Even  year  the  men  and  boys  and* 


LIFE  UNDER  LANDLORDISM 


43 


. — that  is  what  the  settlers  here  have  to  face.  And  even  with 
their  utmost  endeavor,  after  years  of  the  most  heartbreaking 
toil,  the  result  is  hardly  better.   The  land  cannot  feed  them." 

So  these  folk  have  to  make  the  land  with  their  hands 
before  they  can  till  it.  And  the  walls  are  built  because  there 
is  nowhere  else  to  put  the  stones.  One  man,  I  noticed,  had 
erected  a  four-foot  wall  around  his  half-acre  patch.  That 
was  not  enough,  so  he  heaped  up  other  tons  and  tons  into  a 
great  mound  over  in  one  corner.  He  had  buried  his 
strength,  perhaps  his  life,  beneath  that  monstrous  hill  of 
labor.  But  what  a  monument  it  was  to  the  manhood  which 
would  not  be  crushed ! 

A  mile  or  two  farther  on  we  got  down  from  the  car 
and  climbed  a  lane  running  up  a  hillside.  That  path  was 
like  the  dry  bed  of  a  mountain  stream.  It  was  the  land  as 
it  was  uncleared  of  stones.  At  the  summit  a  half  dozen 
sickly  trees  stood  bent  to  the  wind  amid  a  cluster  of  thatched 
hovels.  I  had  thought  it  was  a  collection  of  cattle  sheds. 
But  it  was  a  village.  Or  rather,  it  was  both.  Scattered 
along  the  brow  of  the  hill  were  twenty  or  thirty  of  these 
wretched  buildings,  whitewashed,  thatched,  with  less  than 
one  window  apiece — the  customary  dwellings  of  the  poorest 
peasants.  There  were  no  streets,  for  the  houses — let  us  call 
them  such — were  set  down  in  confusion.  Where  streets 
might  have  been  there  were  rank  pools  of  water  where 
geese  nuzzled  in  the  slime,  and  paths  of  half-frozen  mud 
and  filth  that  wound  around  and  through  and  over  heaped- 
up  piles  of  manure.  The  rough  bricks  of  peat,  gathered  for 
the  winter's  fuel,  lay  in  pyramid  piles  against  the  house 
walls. 

The  abject  hideousness  of  the  place  got  on  my  nerves 
as  I  splashed  through  the  mud  after  the  priest.  The  gray 
clouds  had  sunk  closer  to  the  desolate  land  and  a  searching 
rain  was  driven  by  the  biting  wind.  I  thought  of  the  Polish 
mining  settlements  I  have  seen  in  Pennsylvania.  The  pic- 
tures I  called  up  only  made  this  scene  more  miserable. 
"Come,"  said  the  priest.  We  had  to  stoop  to  enter  a  door- 
way and  then  had  to  stand  aside  to  admit  a  little  of  the  gray 
light.  I  could  see  nothing  at  first,  but  there  was  life  some- 
where in  the  darkness. 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


"Good  day  to  you,  Father."  It  was  a  woman's  voice, 
and  she  came  forward  toward  the  patch  of  dim  light  at  the 
door.  An  old  woman,  bent  and  wrinkled.  Her  feet  were 
bare  on  the  earthen  floor  and  purple  with  the  bitter  cold. 

"Well,  now,  Ellen,  and  how  are  you?" 

"Badly,  Father." 

"And  this  is  Kate,  eh?"  Somewhere  from  the  darkness 
appeared  a  girl  with  brown  hair  and  blue  eyes.  Her  thin 
dress  fluttered  in  the  wind  that  whistled  in  at  the  open  door. 
Her  feet  and  legs  were  naked  to  the  knees,  but  she  did  not 
shiver.  Her  face  turned  as  red  as  her  rough  hands  as  she 
tvhispered  a  greeting  to  the  priest  and  hung  her  head. 

"Eh,  what  a  fine  girl  we're  getting  to  be!  Have  you 
been  down  to  the  convent  school?  What?  'No,  Father.1 
And  why  not?  Speak  up,  child.  What  do  you  say?  Well 
- — of  course.  But  we'll  try  to  get  some  clothes  for  you. 
Sure,  you  must  go  to  school.  You'll  learn  to  read  and  write 
— and  you  should  see  the  lace  the  other  girls  are  making 
yonder." 

"Look   about   you,"    whispered   the    priest   to  me. 

Gradually  the  vision  penetrated  the  gloom,  and  I  could 
see  through  the  whole — house.  It  was  one  room,  perhaps 
eighteen  feet  by  twelve.  At  one  end  was  the  chimney,  with 
the  open  hearth  on  the  floor,  where  a  few  blocks  of  turf 
smoldered.  In  one  corner  were  a  rude  bench  and  table.  In 
another  a  raised  structure  which  I  could  not  name.  It 
seemed  to  be  heaped  with  straw  and  rags — ■ 

"The  bed,"  whispered  the  priest. 

In  the  center  the  smoke-blackened  thatch  hung  seven  or 
eight  feet  clear  of  the  floor.  Where  it  rested  on  the  walls  it 
was  less  than  five  feet  clear.  I  glanced  around  toward  that 
part  of  the  room  to  which  my  back  had  been  turned.  I  had 
thought  I  heard  some  one  moving.  The  gloom  was  more 
dense  there.  But  I  could  see  a  heap  of  straw  on  the  floor, 
and  it  moved,  with  grunts.  A  pig  wallowed  beside  a 
trough.  This  was  ten  feet  from  the  bed.  Just  beyond  was 
a  partition  which  did  not  reach  to  the  roof.  I  stepped  over 
and  glanced  within.  It  was  a  cow  stalled,  with  a  doorway 
leading  outward  to  a  pile  of  stable  refuse.  The  cow  was 
fifteen  feet  from  the  bed. 


LIFE  UNDER  LANDLORDISM 


"And  where  is  the  man,  Ellen,  and  your  sons?" 
"In  England,  Father.    They're  still  working  there." 
"Ah,  well,  they'll  be  home  soon,  I  suppose,  for  the 
winter?" 

"They  will,  Father.    Thank  God." 

I  went  outside,  leaving  the  woman  thanking  God. 

We  went  to  other  houses.  Some  were  a  little  better. 
Some,  believe  me,  were  worse.  One  other  I  will  speak  of, 
because  the  inmates  were  the  same,  a  mother  and  a  young 
daughter.    The  priest  spoke  to  them  heartily. 

"Come,  now,"  he  said,  "what  have  we  had  for  dinner 
to-day?"  The  woman  pointed  to  a  tin  dish  containing  the 
remnants  of  a  few  little  potatoes.  "And  the  half  of  a 
ha'p'nny  herring,"  she  added,  without  the  slightest  emotion. 

"For  the  two  of  you?" 

"Ay,  Father." 

"And  what's  for  supper,  come  now?"  The  woman 
threw  her  hand  again  at  the  little  mess  of  cold  potatoes  in 
the  tin  dish.    I  saw  a  dark  fragment  of  something  in  it. 

"Yes,  that,  too.  That's  the  other  half  of  the  herring," 
Said  the  woman,  simply.  As  we  went  away  I  found  myself 
trying  to  divide  one  cent's  worth  of  fish  among  two  persons 
for  two  meals.  There's  a  problem  in  fractions,  with  only 
one  answer — hunger.  We  stumbled  down  the  rocky  lane 
again — it  was  after  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and  nearly 
dark — and  drove  on  with  the  car.  We  visited  other  settle- 
ments— Cleragh,  Carrick,  Culthasney,  and  seme  which  I 
cannot  recall — but  the  tale  was  only  retold.  I  have 
described,  I  confess,  such  scenes  as  were  nearly  the  worst. 
But  seldom  did  I  see  a  place  which  in  America  or  England 
would  be  considered  a  fit  habitation  for  human  beings.  If 
all  the  lands  and  villages  through  which  I  passed,  buildings 
and  all,  were  offered  to  a  Pennsylvania  farmer  in  exchange 
for  ten  acres  of  his  worst  land  he  would  laugh  the  gift  to 
scorn.  Yet  each  little  patch  of  stony  ground,  with  its 
wretched  cabin,  built  by  the  hands  of  the  tenants,  costs  them 
from  $15  to  $20  a  year.  And  they  have  to  go  away  to  earn 
that.  Meanwhile,  there  are  families  in  England  whose  rent- 
rolls — than  which  there  can  be  no  better  badge  of  respecta- 
bility— are  swelled  by  these  very  payments. 


46  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


It  will  be  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  for  the  reader 
to  say  that  the  wretchedness  I  have  touched  upon  is  due  to 
laziness  or  ignorance  or  lack  of  ordinary  thrift.  But  that 
would  be  both  false  and  foolish.  I  repeat,  at  the  risk  of 
wearying  insistence,  that  these  people  live  on  the  stony, 
barren  land  because  there  is  nowhere  else  for  them  to  live. 
They,  or  their  fathers,  reclaimed  land  at  the  cost  of  years  of 
labor  and  builded  them  homes  upon  it.  Then,  by  the  simple 
operation  of  remorseless  statutes,  they  were  turned  out,  their 
houses  taken  from  them,  the  work  of  their  hands  seized  by 
their  masters,  the  landlords.  Therefore  they  are  where  they 
are. 

But  why  the  wretched  homes?  Why  the  housing  of 
human  beings  and  animals  together?  Such  things  have  fol- 
lowed inevitably.  The  land  defeating  their  best  efforts  to 
make  it  produce  enough  food,  ground  down  by  the  bitterest 
poverty,  they  have  found  it  physically  impossible  to  raise 
themselves.  Any  other  race  would  have  sunk  into  unimag- 
ined  depths  of  degradation.  These  Irish  peasants  are  still 
healthy,  moral,  hopeful  human  beings.  They  need  but  a 
touch  of  human  help  to  become  sturdily  prosperous.  I  know 
this,  for  I  have  seen  it.  Father  O'Hara,  as  I  have  not  stated 
before,  is  a  member  of  the  Congested  Districts  Board,  that 
powerful  agency  of  amelioration,  which  is  headed  by  the 
Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland.  As  we  drove  along  he  showed 
me  some  things  that  have  been  done. 

"As  you  know,"  he  said,  "in  some  districts  we  have 
been  able  to  acquire  good  lands  and  sell  it  in  homesteads  to 
the  tenants  who  have  been  occupying  barren  lands.  In  this 
immediate  vicinity,  unfortunately,  there  is  none  available. 
The  only  remedy  is  to  transfer  some  of  the  population 
into  better  neighborhoods.  But  meanwhile  we  have  done 
much  to  raise  the  people  up,  to  encourage  them.  We  help 
to  drain  farms  that  need  it,  and  reward  those  who  help 
themselves.    There  is  one  of  our  houses  yonder." 

He  pointed  out  a  neat  farmhouse  of  stone,  with  small 
glass  windows,  a  stone  chimney  and  a  slate  roof. 

"That  family,"  he  said,  "formerly  lived  in  such  a 
h  >vel  as  those  you  have  seen  to-day.  We  were  able  to  add 
a  little  land  to  the  patch  they  had.   Then  we  built  the  house. 


LIFE  UNDER  LANDLORDISM  47 


The  family  pay  less  now  than  they  did  for  rent  to  the 
landlord,  yet  in  time  they  will  own  house  and  ground.  The 
board  bought  the  property,  and  is  selling  it  on  yearly 
payments.  Of  course,  this  work  is  slow,  and  it  is  restricted 
to  the  few  districts  where  we  have  been  able  to  acquire  the 
land.  It  will  never  become  wholly  effective  until  the  pur- 
chase of  all  landlords'  holdings  is  accomplished." 

We  visited  several  of  the  homes  where  the  work  of 
encouragement  showed  its  effects.  In  one  I  found  a  house 
with  four  rooms,  comfortably  furnished.  The  living-room 
floor  was  of  stone,  well  scrubbed.  There  was  a  dresser, 
filled  with  dishes.    The  dooryard  was  clean  swept. 

"Until  we  came  to  their  assistance,"  said  Father 
O'Hara,  as  we  left  the  place,  "this  family  lived  in  what  is 
now  the  stable.  The  cow  and-  pig  had  part  of  the  same 
building,  and  the  refuse  was  simply  flung  out  of  the  door 
until  it  piled  up  so  that  one  entering  had  to  walk  around  it. 
The  board  adopted  a  plan  of  offering  money  to  thrifty  men 
who  would  agree  to  improve  their  holdings.  We  gave  that 
man  $50.  He  did  $200  worth  of  work — and  the  result  you 
see. 

The  country  is  in  the  Swinford  district.  The  popula- 
tion is  44,162.  The  annual  ratable  valuation  is  $4.54  for 
each  person.  Of  the  7700  holdings  of  land,  4768  are  worth 
less  than  $20  and  7095  in  all  less  than  $40.  The  latter 
valuation,  it  is  agreed,  represents  an  amount  under  which 
subsistence  is  impossible.  There  are,  therefore,  in  this  little 
district  35,000  persons  who  are  confined  to  patches  of  land 
which  cannot  support  life  in  them.  At  the  same  time,  thirty- 
nine  grazers  and  fourteen  landlords  occupy  land  valued  at 
$19,210  a  year — as  much,  in  proportion,  as  4200  tenants,  at 
the  average  valuation. 

Of  the  164,589  persons  who  emigrated  from  County 
Mayo  in  the  fifty  years  following  1851,  Swinford  district 
lost  more  than  40,000.  And  the  drain  goes  on.  In  188 1 
the  population  was  53,714.  In  1901  it  was  44,162,  a  loss 
of  1 8  per  cent,  in  twenty  years. 

After  all,  is  there  any  wonder  that  statesmen  have  bee» 
laboring  with  this  Irish  question  for  thirty  years? 


VII 


A  MAN  WHO  KNOWS 

It  seems  to  me  that  I  should  not  leave  the  story  of  Kilti- 
magh  without  some  word  of  Father  Denis  O'Hara,  himself 
and  his  work.  He  is  a  man  to  study.  With  the  ability  of  a 
statesman  and  the  intellect  of  a  scholar,  he  is  content  to  be 
a  parish  priest  in  a  patch  of  populous  desolation.  In  his 
devotion  to  painful  good  works  he  may  be  taken  as  typical 
of  the  rural  clergy  in  this  country.  For  his  peculiar  gifts 
and  opportunities  as  a  public  administrator  he  commands 
more  than  desultory  attention. 

It  was  with  a  heart  aching  for  the  miseries  I  had  seen 
that  I  sat  down  in  the  homely  little  study  of  the  priest,  while 
he  devoted  a  necessary  hour  to  those  who  had  been  waiting 
patiently  to  see  him.  It  was  a  quaint,  quiet  little  room. 
Though  the  hour  was  less  than  five  o'clock,  the  winter  night 
had  already  fallen,  and  the  walls  were  lighted  only  by  the 
wavering  flames  of  the  turf  fire.  The  furniture  was  aus- 
terely plain  and  worn  with  long  use.  There  was  a  small 
writing  desk,  covered  with  a  confusion  of  papers.  The 
roomy  old  bookcase  was  filled  with  much-handled  volumes — 
works  of  devotion,  poetry,  history,  philosophy,  in  English, 
Irish  and  Latin.  A  man  of  the  highest  scholarship,  with 
talents  which  might  have  won  him  ease,  he  had  spent  fifteen 
years  in  this  wilderness  of  poverty,  ministering  to  the  help- 
less. I  need  not  say  that  such  devotion  and  sacrifice  are  not 
peculiar  to  followers  of  this  man's  religion,  for  in  every 
country  there  are  thousands  of  ministers  who  count  the  world 
well  lost  if  they  may  serve  humbly  and  with  little  material 
reward.  I  write  of  Father  O'Hara  as  an  example  of  them 
all. 

I  thought  of  him  as  he  appeared  while  we  passed  through 
the  crowded  village  fair  and  along  the  country  lanes  and 
into  the  houses  of  the  poor.  I  began  to  realize  then  what 
power  Jies  in  the  hands  of  the  parish  priest.    He  has  grown 

48 


A  MAN  WHO  KNOWS 


49 


so  into  the  lives  of  the  people  that  he  is  a  part  of  their  very 
existence.  They  look  to  him  not  only  as  a  spiritual  authority, 
but  as  a  friend,  a  counselor,  a  judge,  an  advocate,  a  father, 
indeed.  He  is  more  mighty  to  prevail  with  them  than  the 
imperial  government,  yet  finds  time  to  act  as  arbiter  in  neigh- 
bors' disputes,  and  from  his  decision  there  is  no  thought  of 
appeal.  By  tradition  and  practice  the  people  of  his  parish 
have  delegated  to  him  the  powers  of  king  and  court,  and  he 
distributes  justice  in  matters  large  and  small  with  an  open 
hand.  I  thought  of  him  then  as  I  saw  him  among  the 
people.  In  the  crowded  fair  and  along  the  country  roads 
every  man  and  boy  touched  his  hat  as  the  priest  passed. 
The  women  and  girls  bent  their  knees.  Not  one  who  met 
his  eye  failed  of  a  word  of  greeting. 

"Good  day  to  you,  Martin.  How  is  the  wife?  That's 
well.  A  fine  evening,  Pat.  *  *  *  Dan,  my  boy,  a 
word  with  you.  Keep  clear  of  the  public  house  to-night. 
It's  no  place  for  you.  *  *  *  Ah,  Mary,  I'm  glad  to 
see  you  out  again.  WThere  are  the  girls?  They're  well? 
I'm  glad  of  that,  now." 

There  were  perhaps  five  hundred  men  and  women  and 
children  in  the  village  street,  and  they  had  come  from  miles 
around  to  the  fair.  I  think  Father  O'Hara  spoke  to  fifty  of 
them  by  name.  He  could  have  so  called  each  one.  There 
are  4500  persons  in  his  parish,  and  he  knows  them  all  as  a 
man  knows  his  neighbors.  Far  out  on  a  lonely  road,  miles 
from  Kiltimagh,  we  were  jogging  along  on  our  jaunting  car. 
Coming  toward  us  up  a  steep  hill  I  saw  an  old,  old  woman. 
Under  her  rough,  short  skirt  I  could  see  her  feet,  bare  on 
the  icy  ground.  She  was  bent  almost  double,  for  on  her 
back  was  tied  a  huge  basket  filled  with  half-frozen  blocks  of 
turf  from  the  bog.  It  must  have  weighed  nearly  forty 
pounds.  Slowly,  painfully  she  toiled  up  the  hill.  At  first 
she  saw  only  the  stranger  on  the  car,  but  as  she  passed  she 
nodded  gravely.  Then  the  priest  cried  out  a  cheery  greet- 
ing, calling  her  by  name.  Instantly  her  face  broke  into 
smiles,  and  as  the  car  stopped  a  moment  she  looked  up  into 
the  kindly  face  above  her  with  a  gaze  that  was  almost  wor- 
ship. A  few  cheerful  words,  and  we  passed  on.  I  looked 
back  at  the  old  woman.    She  was  plodding  on  up  the  hill 


50  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


But  her  step  was  freer,  and  I  think  the  heavy  burden  on  her 
back  had  grown  lighter. 

Across  his  hospitable  dinner  table  Father  O'Hara  and 
I  talked  long  of  what  we  had  seen  that  day  and  what  we 
had  not  seen.  It  was  all  the  cruel  story  of  the  land.  Kilti- 
magh  is  in  the  Swinford  union,  or  district,  concerning  which 
I  have  already  given  some  figures.  To  get  nearer  home, 
there  are  in  Kiltimagh  electoral  division  309  occupiers  of 
land,  whose  holdings  are  valued  at  less  than  $40  a  year — 
that  is,  there  are  309  families  confined  on  land  which  cannot 
possibly  yield  enough  food  to  keep  them  alive,  let  alone  pay 
the  rent  of  $5  or  more  per  acre.  And  in  the  adjoining  divi- 
sion of  Ballinamore  lands  worth  $3725  a  year  are  occupied 
for  pasturing  cattle  by  one  grazer  and  one  landlord.  Father 
O'Hara,  who  has  been  a  leader  in  the  fight  for  justice  since 
the  Land  League  agitation  of  1879,  knows  the  story  as  he 
knows  his  breviary. 

4 'You  have  seen  som)e  of  the  results  of  the  inequitable 
land  system  to-day,"  he  said,  "and  the  cause  is  plain.  I'll 
give  you  an  example.  Comprising  parts  of  this  and  other 
unions  there  is  a  great  property  called  the  Dillon  estate, 
owned  until  a  few  years  ago  by  Lord  Dillon  and  before 
him  by  his  ancestors.  There  are  93,000  acres  in  this  one 
estate.  Now  listen.  Arthur  Young,  the  famous  English 
traveler  and  writer,  visited  this  district  one  hundred  years 
ago.  He  described  the  Dillon  property,  and  said  the  annual 
rental  derived  by  the  owner  was  $25,000.  Mark  you,  now. 
Lord  Dillon  never  visited  his  estate.  He  never  turned  his 
hand  to  improve  it.  He  never  erected  a  farm  building  or 
built  a  fence  or  dug  a  drain.  He  simply  lived  in  England, 
while  his  agents  and  bailiffs  collected  the  rents  from  the 
tenants  here.  And  in  1879  the  rent-roll  amounted  to  $130,- 
000  a  year.  In  eighty  years  the  income  of  the  landlord  had 
increased  to  five  times  the  original  amount. 

"He  had  done  absolutely  nothing.  The  tenants  had 
done  everything.  And  as  fast  as  they  drained  and  reclaimed 
the  land  and  built  houses  and  fences,  just  as  fast  was  the 
rent  raised  on  them.  They  made  the  improvements  and 
paid  for  them ;  and  when  at  any  time,  whether  through  crop 
failure  or  sickness  or  sheer  inability  to  pay,  the  tenants  could 


A  REMNANT  OF  LANDLORDISM. 


VILLAGE  OF  LOUGH  GLYNN. 


A  MAN  WHO  KNOWS  51 

not  meet  the  demands  of  the  agents,  they  were  evicted,  other 
tenants  replaced  them  at  increased  rents,  and  the  profit  of  all 
their  labor  was  seized  by  the  landlord.  It  was  by  this  sys- 
tem that  the  people  have  gradually  been  forced  to  take  the 
miserable  patches  you  saw  to-day,  while  within  a  short  dis- 
tance there  are  thousands  of  acres  of  good  land  devoted  to 
cattle  grazing. 

"I  have  mentioned  the  Dillon  estate  because  it  serves 
as  an  example  of  what  can  be  done.  The  Congested  Dis- 
tricts Board  was  able  to  arrange  the  purchase  of  this  great 
tract  in  March,  1899.  The  price  paid  was  $1,450,000. 
We  have  spent  more  than  $100,000  for  drainage,  fencing, 
road-making,  the  improvement  of  houses  and  outbuildings, 
and  will  spend  $40,000  more.  What  is  the  result?  The 
land  has  gone  back  to  the  people.  The  thousands  of  tenants 
and  their  families  are  gradually  being  made  owners  of  the 
farms  they  work.  Hovels  are  disappearing,  and  stone 
houses  with  slate  roofs  are  taking  their  place.  The  annual 
payments  of  the  tenants  amount  to  only  two-thirds  of  what 
they  paid  for  rent,  yet  in  a  term  of  years  they  will  own  the 
land  absolutely. 

uYou  understand,  of  course,  that  this  land  was  not 
bought  by  the  government  and  presented  to  the  people. 
They  must  pay  for  every  acre  of  it.  But  the  payments  are 
so  arranged  as  not  to  be  burdensome,  and  before  each  thrifty 
tenant  there  is  something  to  work  for,  the  certainty  that  he 
or  his  children  will  eventually  own  his  own  little  farm.  The 
difference  between  that  estate  and  those  adjoining,  which  are 
still  held  by  landlords,  tells  the  whole  story.  A  member  of 
Parliament  went  among  the  Dillon  estate  tenants  recently 
and  asked  them  how  they  were  doing. 

"  'Why,  bless  you,  sir,'  said  one  farmer,  'we're  as  happy 
as  a  choir  of  angels.' 

"And  on  the  next  adjoining  estate  you  will  find  scores 
of  holdings  from  which  the  unfortunate  tenants  have  been 
evicted  within  the  last  six  months;  you  will  find  those  who 
remain  paying  50  per  cent,  more  for  rent  than  these  pay  for 
purchase;  and  you  will  find  those  estates  the  very  hotbed  of 
agitation,  with  the  police  exercising  the  oppressive  coercion 
laws  to  the  extreme  limit  of  severity. 


52 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


"This  contrast  is  inevitable.  It  cannot  be  expected  that 
tenants  who  see  their  neighbors  treated  with  justice  and 
humanity,  while  they  themselves  are  still  ground  down  and 
oppressed,  will  not  be  discontented.  In  this  immediate 
vicinity,  as  I  have  said,  there  is  no  good  land  available.  The 
Congested  Districts  Board  is  devoting  its  energies  to  enlarg- 
ing the  small  holdings  where  possible,  assisting  the  most 
deserving  tenants  and  encouraging  improvement.  But  the 
only  remedy  for  the  whole  intolerable  system  is  the  abolition 
of  dual  ownership  of  the  land.  Landlordism,  as  Ireland 
knows  it,  is  an  anachronism!.  The  people  who  occupy  the 
land,  and  farm  it,  and  improve  it,  must  be  made  the  owners 
of  it." 

"How  about  the  political  agency  which  is  working  for 
this  reform?"  I  asked.  "Are  you  in  favor  of  the  United 
Irish  League?" 

"In  favor  of  it?"  cried  Father  O'Hara.  "My  dear 
man,  I  am  heart  and  soul  with  it,  and  so  is  every  good  priest 
in  Ireland,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  I  tell  my  people 
so,  too.  I  say  to  them :  'The  United  Irish  League  is  right- 
ing for  you.  You  must  fight  with  it.  The  best  way  for  you 
to  fight  is  to  give  money,  and  you  ought  to  do  it  because 
every  one  of  you  will  benefit  by  its  work.  Before  you  pay 
your  rent,  before  you  buy  your  clothes,  before  you  pay  your 
priest,  give  your  shilling  to  the  United  Irish  League.'  " 

Besides  the  devotion  of  the  people,  Father  O'Hara  has 
erected  other  monuments  here.  There  is  a  great  church,  fit 
to  grace  any  square  in  America,  and  a  convent  school,  built 
of  stone  and  heated  with  steam.  This  in  a  district  where 
poverty  is  as  inevitable  as  rent. 

"I  have  to  thank  America  for  these,"  he  said.  "The 
church  cost  $25,000  and  the  school  half  as  much  more,  and 
most  of  it  came  from  your  country.  Hundreds  of  young 
men  and  young  women  had  to  emigrate  to  America  from 
here.  I  don't  believe  there  are  a  score  of  families  in  the 
parish  that  have  not  relatives  on  the  other  side.  I  started 
that  church  with  two  half  sovereigns.  When  I  wrote  over 
to  our  boys  and  girls  in  America  the  money  poured  in.  Ah, 
they  don't  forget  the  old  home,  poor  as  it  is." 

We  went  through  the  convent  school  during  the  day. 


A  MAN  WHO  KNOWS 


53 


Classes  of  girls  from  ten  to  sixteen  years  old  were  busily  at 
work,  under  the  tuition  of  black-robed  Sisters.  Here,  as  in 
the  streets,  Father  O'Hara  called  each  child  by  name,  and  had 
a  word  of  advice,  or,  more  frequently,  a  joke,  for  each  one 
of  them.  The  girls  receive  an  elementary  education  and  are 
instructed  in  household  work  and  lace-making.  The  Sisters 
also  visit  the  houses  in  the  parish,  tend  the  sick  and  encour- 
age the  mothers  and  daughters  to  keep  their  houses  neat. 

"We  teach  housework  and  cooking,"  said  Father 
O'Hara,  "because  it  helps  to  raise  the  poor  folks  a  little  and 
also  because  many  of  the  girls  will  emigrate,  and  we  do  not 
want  them  to  arrive  in  their  new  homes  ignorant." 

So  there  are  housewives  in  America  who  have  cause  for 
thankfulness  to  Father  O'Hara.  I  remarked  to  him  that 
the  Sisters  seemed  very  bright  and  cheerful,  that  they  lacked 
the  solemn  austerity  associated  with  some  religious  orders. 

"They're  good  women,"  he  said,  smiling.  "I've  talked 
to  them.  I've  told  them  that  prayers  and  fasting  are  excel- 
lent things,  and  I  hoped  they  would  practice  them.  But  I 
told  them  that  working  for  the  poor  and  unfortunate  was 
the  best  form  of  prayer  I  knew."  t 

This  is  the  Rev.  Denis  O'Hara,  parish  priest.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  "P.  P."  which  he  writes  after  his  name  is  as 
noble  distinction  as  any  string  of  letters  to  be  found  in  the 
peerage.   It  is  the  Distinguished  Service  Order  of  humanity. 


VIII 


*THE  HUMAN  SIDE 

From  the  top  of  a  fairy  mound,  where  the  elves  dance 
of  a  summer's  night,  I  have  seen  the  Problem  of  the  Land 
as  in  a  picture  ten  miles  wide.  And  from  a  seat  on  Pat 
Tuohy's  jaunting  car,  from  hazy  noon  to  frosted  silver  even- 
ing, I  have  seen  the  panorama  of  the  tragic  earth  unroll  for 
thirty  Irish  miles.  That's  a  day's  work.  What  a  picture  it 
was!  I  thought  of  the  vales  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  velvet 
fields  of  our  middle  West.  Here  they  were  over  again,  mile 
•n  mile  of  the  fairest  land  the  mind  can  conceive,  rich  with 
promise  of  fertility,  green  still  to  the  very  verge  of  winter,^ 
smiling,  beautiful — and  empty.  That  is  the  tragedy  of  it. 
I  had  spent  weary  days  and  nights  in  places  where  humanity 
is  wretchedness  incarnate  and  men  and  women  huddle 
crowded  amid  grim  barrenness.  There  are  ranges  here 
where  the  wind  may  sweep  for  leagues  over  living  fields  and 
never  know  the  taint  of  the  turf  smoke.  The  crows  that 
wheel  black  against  the  sky  must  mount  far  to  spy  out  a 
chimney  or  a  hayrick.  The  hares  that  run  wild  know  no 
strangers  but  the  rough-coated  cattle  that  graze  in  scattered 
herds.  It  is  fertility  and  loneliness;  the  land  that  mourns 
for  the  people  as  they  mourn  for  the  land. 

"Come,"  said  John  Fitzgibbon,  "come,  and  I'll  show 
you  what  we  fight  for  and  why." 

It  was  Sunday  in  Castlerea,  and  the  shuttered  street  lay 
silent  and  empty,  the  folk  having  gone  from  church  to  din- 
ner. The  sun  at  its  highest  point  hung  as  though  setting 
and  the  street  was  in  wintry  shadow.  We  climbed  on  the 
jaunting  car,  wrapping  the  rugs  well,  for  the  wind  was  keen 
and  piercing,  and  clattered  out  on  the  road  to  the  eastward. 
At  the  first  corner  stood  a  stalwart  member  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Constabulary,  in  his  boots  and  cloak  and  peaked  cap. 

♦Chapters  VIII,  IX,  X  and  XI  were  written  in  Castlerea, 

County  Roscommon,  in  December,  1902. 

54 


THE  HUMAN  SIDE 


55 


He  glanced  at  us  sharply,  then  disappeared,  with  ostentatious 
indifference. 

I  shall  have  a  good  deal  to  say  of  John  Fitzgibbon,  for 
he  is  a  man  to  write  about.  But  for  the  present  we  shall 
just  glance  at  him.  as  he  balances  himself  on  the  swaying 
car.  A  stout  man,  with  a  rugged,  burly  figure;  a  round, 
healthy,  keen,  kindly,  red  face;  a  close-trimmed  beard  of 
gray-streaked  copper,  and  blue  eyes  that  twinkle  or  grow 
hard  as  he  talks.  For  the  rest,  he  is  a  man  of  the  people, 
chairman  of  the  Roscommon  County  Council,  an  enthusiastic 
official  of  the  United  Irish  League,  a  speaker  of  natural 
force,  a  devout  Christian,  a  total  abstainer  and  a  zealot  for 
temperance.  Add  to  this  that  he  is  a  prosperous  and 
respected  merchant  and  has  served  four  terms  in  prison  for 
his  political  views,  and  you  have  a  rough  sketch  of  one  o^ 
the  finest  Irishmen  I  have  ever  met. 

For  half  a  mile  or  so  we  skirted  the  Sandford  demesne, 
xhere  great  trees  stand  thick  behind  the  time-blackened 
wall,  then  swung  into  the  country  road,  with  its  border  of 
leafless  hawthorn  hedge.  When  we  were  quite  clear  of  the 
village  I  turned  and  looked  behind,  for  I  knew7  what  to 
expect.  Two  hundred  yards  back  was  a  man  on  a  bicycle; 
a  trim-built  man  in  a  dark  uniform,  with  peaked  cap.  The 
present  government  does  not  approve  of  explorations  by 
American  newspaper  men,  particularly  under  the  guidance 
of  such  dangerous  criminals  as  John  Fitzgibbon.  Hence  the 
presence  of  the  R.  I.  C.  man,  detailed  to  follow  us  though 
we  traveled  till  another  dawn. 

"There  he  is,"  I  said.    John  Fitzgibbon  glanced  back. 

"Oho!"  he  said.  "  Tis  Reilly,  the  brave  lad.  Well, 
he  has  a  ride  before  him." 

"Bad  luck  to  him,"  said  Pat  Tuohy  to  his  pipe. 

"I  am  quite  interested  in  Reilly,"  said  Mr.  Fitzgibbon. 
"He  tried  his  level  worst  to  send  me  to  jail  for  six  months 
a  while  back — hard  labor,  too,  on  the  stone  pile.  He's  one 
of  the  most  promising  members  of  the  force  hereabouts,  and 
some  day  he'll  be  an  inspector,  I  doubt  not.  He's  devoted 
to  his  duty,  as  you  see,  and  I  don't  know  his  equal  for  giving 
the  testimony  that's  wanted.  It  was  my  privilege  to  prove 
him  a  liar  in  open  court  on  the  occasion  I'm  speaking  of, 


56  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 

whereby  I'm  taking  this  ride  with  you  instead  of  swinging 
a  sledge  in  Castlebar  jail." 

All  this  was  said  quite  pleasantly.  There  was  no 
visible  rancor  about  it,  but  I  began  to  appreciate  the  cold 
enmity  that  exists  between  the  people  and  the  government 
police  who  harass  them. 

A  few  miles  out  the  car  stopped  at  the  foot  of  a  lane 
and  we  walked  to  the  top  of  a  hill,  then  climbed  a  low  stone 
wall.  Before  us  was  a  circular  mound  of  green,  a  hundred 
feet  in  diameter  at  the  base,  perhaps,  and  forty  or  fifty  feet 
high.  We  climbed  up.  The  top  was  perfectly  round,  thirty 
feet  across,  with  a  depression  which  made  the  outer  edge  a 
ridge.    The  thing  was  puzzling. 

"This  is  a  fairy  mound,"  laughed  Mr.  Fitzgibbon.  I 
suggested  an  ancient  burial  place,  with  unimagined  treasures 
of  the  bronze  age  concealed  in  it. 

"Tut,  man,"  he  said,  "there  isn't  a  native  in  the  country 
would  drive  a  pick  into  the  turf  of  Mullaghaduhy  hill,  so 
whatever  is  inside  will  stay  there.  It  was  built  by  fairies, 
you  know.  Well,  personally,  I  think  it  was  a  sort  of  watch 
tower  in  the  old  days,  or  perhaps  a  cannon  was  mounted 
here.    Look  what  a  range  it  had." 

Around  and  below  us,  on  every  side,  lay  the  country, 
flooded  with  the  pale  light  of  the  winter  sun.  The  view 
embraced  eight  or  ten  miles  in  all  directions,  a  rolling  green 
plain  fading  away  into  grassy  hills.  Here  and  there  were 
small  clumps  or  row?  of  trees.  Low  stone  walls  followed 
the  contour  of  the  land,  making  big  and  little  fields  of 
irregular  shape.  The  dark  streaks  were  ditches,  the  winding 
thread  of  silver  a  little  stream.  I  counted  ten  houses  within 
vision  on  that  great  stretch.  Each  had  two  or  three  acres 
of  tilled  ground.  The  rest  was  grass.  The  only  living 
things  in  sight  were  tiny  scattered  flocks  of  sheep  and  cattle. 
Mr.  Fitzgibbon  translated. 

"We  are  overlooking  several  estates,"  he  said;  "Balff, 
Irwin,  Sandford,  Murphy — corners  of  all  of  therm  are  in 
sight.  Oh,  yes,  there  were  farms  here  once,  hundreds  of 
them.  But  all  the  people  were  evicted.  They  emigrated  to 
America,  or  moved,  or  died.  The  dozen  or  so  farms  you  see 
are  held  by  men  having  long  leases.    They're  all  happy  and 


THE  HUMAN  SIDE 


57 


prosperous,  though  the  rents  are  very  high.  The  others — 
there  was  no  help  for  them." 

"Why  were  they  evicted?    Wouldn't  they  pay  rent?" 

"Most  of  them  couldn't.  The  great  'clearing  out* 
started  at  the  time  of  the  famine,  fifty  years  ago.  The  people 
couldn't  get  food  to  eat.  let  alone  money  for  the  landlords. 
Then  the  world  demanded  cattle,  and  the  landlords  decided 
to  turn  these  fertile  lands  into  grazing  ranches.  That 
doomed  those  who  had  fought  their  way  through  the  famine. 
So  they  all  went.    But  come;  we've  ;us:  sorted." 

Our  course  lay  off  to  the  southward,  ever  low.  rolling 
hills  and  long  meadows.  The  road  was  hard  with  frost  and 
rang  to  the  horse's  hoofs.  The  surrounding  scene  was  still 
the  same — beyond  the  low  stone  walls  lay  endless  green  fields, 
with  not  a  sign  of  farm  or  crops.  Every  few  miles  a  little 
thatched  house  s:ood  by  the  roadside,  with  a  tiny  patch  of 
vegetable  garden  and  a  cluster  of  hayricks,  brown  in  the  sun. 
These  were  the  huts  of  the  herders.  Each  mar.  has  250  :o 
300  acres  under  his  care. 

"That's  it."  said  Mr.  Fitzgibbon:  "thebes:  land  in  Ros- 
common, tit  to  support  thousands.  And  on  land  where  ten 
families  might  live  in  decent  comfort  the  only  occupants  are 
a  man  and  a  dog.  A  man  and  a  dog.  Not  a  crop  on  twenty 
miles  of  it.  and  the  people  wanting  for  food  over  yonder." 

As  we  rounded  the  top  of  a  hill  a  glimpse  of  historic 
Ireland  broke  the  monotony  of  the  depopulated  land. 
Between  us  and  the  low-hanging  sun  was  a  ruin,  a  great 
quadrangle  of  thick  stone  walls,  with  the  remnants  of  a 
high  tower  at  each  corner.  On  the  south  front,  covered  with 
drapen-  of  green  ivy,  the  wall  was  less  eaten  bv  age  than  the 
rest. 

"Ballintober  Castle,"  said  Mr.  Fitzgibbon.  "The 
castle  of  the  O'Connors,  Kings  of  Connaught." 

Grim,  silent,  deserted,  this  pile  of  blackened  stones  over- 
looking the  fertile,  empty  land  seemed  pathetically  out  of 
place.  It  should  have  crumbled  to  dust  and  disappeared  with 
the  fighting  chieftains  who  ruled  the  Ireland  of  the  Irish. 
The  property,  by  the  way,  is  still  in  the  royal  family.  It  is 
owned  by  The  O'Conor  Don,  a  famous  member  of  the  older 
generation  of  to-day.    A  year  or  two  ago  he  gave  a  picnic 


5  8  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


in  the  ruins  to  the  Irish  Historic  Society — chicken  sandwiches 
and  champagne  in  the  quadrangle  where  the  men  at  arms 
once  cheered  their  mailed  leaders. 

Still  the  miles  were  reeled  off,  and  we  saw  nothing  but 
green  fields  on  every  side,  with  houses  just  often  enough  to 
emphasize  the  loneliness.  One  hovel  was  such  a  wretched 
looking  place  that  we  stopped.  The  walls  gaped  with  fissures 
and  the  thatch  of  the  roof  was  falling  in.  I  thought  it  must 
be  untenanted,  but  a  woman  came  to  the  door.  She  was  a 
weird-looking  creature,  with  gray  hair  that  hung  in  ragged 
strips  over  her  head  and  face.  Her  feet  were  bare.  Mr. 
Fitzgibbon  spoke  to  her.    She  answered  sullenly. 

"Who  lives  here?" 

"I  do.  Meself." 

"What  rent  do  you  pay?" 

"I  don't  know.    My  brother  pays  it." 

"How  much  land  have  you?" 

"Divil  a  perch." 

Then  she  turned  and  went  back  into  the  hut. 

As  we  drove  along  I  had  noticed  a  peculiar  formation 
in  the  ground  here  and  there.  Across  the  fields  lay  low, 
green  ridges,  sometimes  two  or  three  hundred  yards  long. 
In  some  places  they  looked  like  lines  of  grass.  In  others 
they  melted  into  the  level  ground.    I  asked  what  they  were. 

"The  remains  of  walls  and  ditches  of  the  old  farms," 
answered  Mr.  Fitzgibbon.  "You'll  find  them  all  over  these 
lands.  When  the  tenants  were  evicted  the  walls  were  thrown 
down,  and  grass  grew  over  the  places.  You  will  see  here 
and  there  a  clump  or  row  of  trees.  They  mark  where  the 
farmhouses  used  to  stand.  The  houses  were  leveled  and  the 
walls  that  border  the  road  we  are  on  were  built  of  stones 
that  once  sheltered  the  evicted  tenants." 

It  was  ghastly.  I  began  to  see  the  marks  of  devasta- 
tion everywhere.  The  fields  on  every  side  were  scarred  with 
the  green  ridges,  as  though  the  whip  of  oppression  had  left 
great  welts  on  the  surface  of  the  land.  In  two  or  three 
places  we  came  upon  the  crumbling  ruins  of  houses,  which 
for  some  reason  had  not  been  carried  away.  There  was  one 
of  which  the  four  walls  still  stood,  with  the  chimney,  though 
the  roof  had  disappeared  years  ago.   We  could  still  trace  the 


THE  HUMAN  SIDE  59 

outlines  of  the  little  garden  and  the  remnants  of  a  stable.  A 
hare  scampered  away  as  I  peered  through  a  gaping  hole 
where  there  had  been  a  window. 

'The  family  that  lived  there  had  fifty  acres  of  good 
land,"  said  Mr.  Fitzgibbon.  'They  were  evicted  because  the 
landlord  wanted  the  land  to  add  to  his  grazing  ranch.  All 
of  them  went  to  America." 

Twelve  miles  southeast  of  Castlerea  we  crossed  the  rail- 
road and  entered  an  avenue  of  great  trees.  Half  way  up  the 
avenue  we  met  a  party  of  men  in  knickerbockers  and  women 
in  furs.  They  were  members  of  a  shooting  party  occupying 
Donamon  Castle,  which  we  saw  further  on,  a  fine,  old,  gray 
building,  with  a  view  of  miles  of  green  country. 

'This  is  a  fair  example  of  absentee  landlordism,"  said 
Mr.  Fitzgibbon.  'This  is  the  estate  of  Sir  George  Caul- 
field;  11,000  acres,  rent-roll  about  $40,000  a  year.  The 
good  land  is  let  to  big  grazers;  the  poor  land  to  small 
tenants.  The  owners  have  not  lived  here  for  sixty  years. 
The  castle  and  woods  are  let  to  shooting  parties  during  the 
season." 

We  passed  Kilbegnet,  turned  north,  skirted  the  tiny 
hamlet  of  Crosswell  and  so  reached  the  place  called  Glinsk. 
Here  there  was  another  relic  of  Irish  Ireland.  On  the  side 
of  the  hill  was  the  gray  ruin  of  a  big  house,  known,  of 
course,  as  "the  castle."  It  had  belonged  to  the  Burkes,  I 
was  told,  a  fine  old  family  of  the  country.  There  were  about 
10,000  acres.  The  Burkes  were  good  landlords,  but  they 
became  embarrassed  financially  at  the  time  of  the  great 
famine,  and  the  estate  was  sold  to  Pollock,  "the  arch 
evictor,"  and  11 00  families  were  turned  out  of  their  homes. 
A  few  miles  more  of  the  empty  ranches,  then  a  few  miles 
across  bogs  that  seemed  to  stretch  to  the  horizon.  It  was 
nearly  five  o'clock,  and  the  sun  had  set  long  ago.  A  new 
moon  made  the  road  white,  and  showed  the  bog  heather 
silvering  with  frost.  Befriended  by  the  darkness,  Constable 
Reilly  pedaled  along  close  to  the  rear  of  the  car,  whistling 
softly  to  himself,  for  his  ride  was  nearly  over.  So  we  passed 
through  the  quiet  street  of  Ballymoe  and  on  to  Castlerea. 
At  Mr.  Fitzgibbon's  door  we  climbed  down,  stiff  and  cold. 


6o 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


"I  have  seen  where  the  people  used  to  be,"  I  said,  "but 
where  are  they  now — those  who  did  not  emigrate  or  die?" 

"Come  with  me  to-morrow,  sir,  and  I'll  show  you," 
said  Pat  Tuohy,  and  I  said  I  would. 

We  started  on  a  bright  morning  and  went  north  and 
northwest  from  Castlerea;  in  the  opposite  direction,  that  is, 
from  where  lay  the  rich  grazing  ranches.  We  had  not  gone 
many  miles  before  the  difference  in  the  country  became 
marked.  The  green  fields  disappeared,  and  as  the  road 
wound  along  a  slight  ridge  there  lay  miles  of  unkind-looking 
knd  on  either  side  of  us,  with  wide  stretches  of  brown  bog. 
And  here,  where  everything  conspired  to  cheat  husbandry 
and  make  life  hard,  I  found  the  people.  Their  cabins  were 
on  every  side;  where  stones  were  sown  thick  in  the  soil,  and 
down  in  the  lowlands  where  the  morasses  lay.  The  houses 
were  pitifully  mean,  the  tilled  patches  pitifully  small.  The 
poverty  was  glaring. 

In  course  of  time  we  came  to  a  place  called  Feigh. 
There  are  some  to  whom  it  bears  the  sacred  name  of  home, 
therefore  I  shall  not  say  how  altogether  wretched  it  was. 
It  comprised  a  cluster  of  hovels  on  the  ridge  road,  with  hill 
slopes  of  stony  ground  and  hollows  of  bog  and  swamp.  The 
bailiffs  had  been  there  before  me.  In  half  a  dozen  of  the 
poor  houses  I  saw  the  "emergency  men"  who  are  placed  in 
charge  after  evictions.  Each  place  was  guarded  by  four  or 
five  policemen.  Most  of  the  unhappy  people  had  disap- 
peared, but  I  found  one  of  them,  a  stalwart  man,  still  young, 
who  came  swinging  along  the  road  with  a  big  creel  full  of 
turf  strapped  to  his  back. 

"You  talk  to  him,  sir,"  said  Pat  Tuohy.  "He'll  tell 
ye.    Ay,  sir,  he'll  tell  ye." 

His  name  was  Bernard  King,  and  he  was  thirty-six  years 
old.  The  day  was  cold,  so  we  walked  up  and  down  the  road 
together  as  he  told  me  the  story  of  an  evicted  tenant.  It 
seemed  a  fearful  tale  to  me,  as  he  told  it,  perhaps  because 
I  could  see  all  around  me  the  desolate  homes. 

"There  was  thirty-one  acres  of  land,  sir,"  he  began. 
"It  belonged  to  my  father  before  me,  and  to  his  mother 
before  him." 


THE  HUMAN  SIDE 


61 


"You  owned  it,  then?" 

"Oh,  no,  sir.  'Twas  this  way:  My  grandmother,  rest 
her  soul,  got  the  land  seventy-odd  years  ago.  'Twas  in  the 
family  a  long  time,  you  see.  She  went  to  London  and 
worked  for  seven  years,  until  she  got  a  little  money  put  by, 
enough  to  get  a  farm  near  her  old  home.  Then  she  came 
back  here  and  rented  the  thirty-one  acres  from  Lord  de 
Freyne.  She  paid  a  big  fine  to  get  possession  of  the  land, 
and  a  big  rent  besides — £8  a  year. 

"It  was  hard  work,  I've  heard  tell,  makin'  that  land 
raise  a  crop.  It  needed  drains,  d'ye  see,  and  only  the  land- 
lord could  build  the  drain,  because  the  land  lay  on  the  bot- 
tom of  the  valley,  and  the  whole  place  had  to  be  drained  at 
once.  But  the  landlord,  of  course,  would  have  nothin'  to  do 
with  it,  ban-in'  collectin'  his  rents.  But  grandmother  and 
her  husband  worked  hard,  and  made  shift  to  raise  a  k::id  of 
livin'  out  of  the  farm.  They  got  through  the  famine,  too. 
After  that,  they  had  improved  the  place  so  much  that  the 
rent  was  raised  to  £10  a  year.  By  and  by  grandmother  died 
and  it  came  to  my  father.  He  did  his  best,  but  somehow 
he  couldn't  make  it  go.  When  he  gave  it  to  me,  five  years 
back,  there  was  four  years'  rent  due  on  it.  But  I  got  mar- 
ried and  took  hold  of  it.  My  wife  had  a  bit  of  money,  and 
she  paid  up  every  shillin'  of  the  back  rent.  Still  we  couldn't 
raise  enough  crops  to  keep  us  goin'." 

"Not  on  thirty-one  acres?    Where  is  the  land?" 

"Come  with  me,  sir,  and  I'll  show  you." 

We  walked  to  the  edge  of  the  hill  and  the  mar  pointed 
to  a  spot  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away,  in  the  hollow.  I  said  I 
could  see  only  a  sheet  of  water. 

"Yes,  sir,"  he  said,  simply,  "that's  it.  Twenty-five 
acres  of  my  land  is  under  that  water.  It's  flooded  eight  or 
nine  months  in  the  year.  In  the  other  three  months  I  tried 
to  raise  a  bit  of  hay,  but  the  grass  soured  because  of  the 
water,  and  it  wasn't  good  for  the  cattle." 

Here  was  a  case  to  make  one  think.  This  tenant  paid 
a  yearly  rental  for  a  piece  of  land.  In  theory  this  was  for 
twelve  months'  use.  In  practice  five-sixths  of  his  land  was 
under  water  for  three-fourths  of  the  year. 

"So  I  couldn't  pay  the  rent,"  said  Bernard  King. 


62  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


" Would  you  like  to  come  and  see  my  wife,  sir?  She'd  take 
it  very  kindly  if  you'd  come." 

I  wondered  where  this  evicted  family  was  living.  We 
walked  up  the  road  a  few  hundred  yards  and  stopped  in 
front  of — a  stable.  There  was  no  mistaking  the  place. 
The  broken  thatch  had  been  repaired  and  new  windows  and 
doors  put  in,  but  this  building  had  unmistakably  been  meant 
for  cattle  and  had  housed  cattle.  I  went  inside.  It  was  ten 
feet  by  eighteen.  In  one  corner  was  a  bed  made  of  rough 
planks.  Against  the  wall  was  a  dresser,  holding  rough 
dishes.  Two  chairs,  a  table  and  a  smolder  of  turf  in  the 
chimney — that  was  all.  Mrs.  King  came  forward,  smiling 
bravely,  a  wee  baby  in  her  arms.  But  when  her  husband 
said  I  was  from  America  she  broke  down  and  cried. 

"America!"  she  said.  "God  bless  you,  sir,  I  lived 
there.  Thirteen  years  I  worked  in  New  York  and  over  in 
Jersey  trying  to  get  a  bit  of  money  so  I  could  have  a  homie 
in  the  old  place.  First  I  sent  a  lot  to  my  own  folks;  then  I 
saved  up  for  myself.    I  brought  back  $565." 

"And  then  we  got  married,"  said  her  husband.  "Four 
years  ago  it  was.  I  had  the  farm  and  my  wife  had  her  for- 
tune, and  we  thought  sure  we  were  fixed  for  life.  You 
remember,  sir,  I  told  you  there  was  four  years'  back  rent 
due.    My  wife  paid  it." 

"I  did,"  she  said.  "Thirteen  years  I'd  worked  for  that 
money  and  I  paid  it  out  in  three.  I  paid  Lord  de  Freyne's 
agent  every  shilling  of  the  arrears.  Sixty  golden  sovereigns, 
sir." 

What  is  the  use  of  saying  that  the  poor  woman  might 
better  have  stayed  in  America?  The  most  fanatical  patriot 
who  reads  this  cannot  measure  the  passionate  love  these 
people  bear  to  the  soil  of  their  race,  cruel  as  they  have  found 
it.  Not  many  come  back,  but  this  woman  did,  and  to  her 
there  was  nothing  so  blessed  as  the  privilege  of  spending  the 
savings  of  years  to  buy  a  farm  near  her  old  home.  But  her 
sacrifice  and  her  husband's  work  alike  were  of  no  avail.  The 
land  simply  could  not  be  made  to  yield  food  and  clothing  for 
the  family  and  rent  for  the  landlord.  Little  by  little  the 
savings  melted  away — the  "golden  sovereigns"  disappeared. 
The  beginning  of  the  end  came  last  February,  when  a  writ 


THE  HUMAN  SIDE 


63 


of  eviction  was  served  on  this  family,  with  many  others. 
They  owed  $125  rent.  While  they  struggled  despairingly  to 
raise  some  money  the  remorseless  machinery  of  the  law 
ground  on  slowly,  and  to  the  rent  due  was  added  $200  in 
costs.    This  was  quite  hopeless.    They  gave  up. 

The  eviction  was  on  August  26  last.  A  scene  familiar 
to  the  countryside.  The  bailiff  and  his  men  came,  guarded 
by  fifty  or  sixty  policemen  with  rifles,  for  they  knew  there 
would  be  a  crowd  of  tenants  there.  Amid  this  display  of 
armed  force  the  little  household  was  cleared  out.  The  wail- 
ing of  women  filled  the  street,  for  the  horror  of  eviction 
smote  every  one  of  them.  The  poor  furniture  was  carried 
out  and  flung  on  the  ground  and  the  little  treasures  of  the 
household  piled  up  for  all  the  crowd  to  see.  Who  can  meas- 
ure the  grief  and  shamie  that  burdened  this  man  and  woman? 
It  is  the  ruthless  exposure  of  the  home,  the  brutal  turning 
out  in  the  open  of  things  sacred  to  the  hearth,  that  seem  so 
cruel.  Yet  it  is  all  perfectly  legal,  and  the  most  civilized 
nation  on  earth  quite  approves  of  it. 

"Arid  there  we  were  on  the  roadside,  sir,"  said  the 
woman,  "with  not  a  roof  to  shelter  us  from  the  rain.  The 
baby,  poor  dear,  was  two  months  old  when  he  was  evicted." 

The  little  chap  in  her  arms  looked  soberly  at  me,  as 
unconscious  as  his  mother  was  that  her  remark  sounded  so 
pit:ful. 

"But  at  least,"  I  suggested,  "the  house  was  yours?" 

"No,  indeed,  sir,"  said  Bernard  King;  "that  went  with 
the  rest.  Sure  'twas  not  enough  to  satisfy  the  claim,  because, 
you  see,  the  costs  were  £40,  near  twice  as  much  as  the  rent." 

There  was  nothing  more  to  be  said.  I  summed  up  the 
case  in  my  mind  thus :  Seventy  years  ago  a  woman,  having 
worked  in  London  for  seven  years,  saved  enough  to  pay  the 
"fine,"  as  it  is  called,  for  the  privilege  of  taking  a  farm.  She 
and  her  husband  cleared  the  land,  reclaimed  it,  built  fences, 
a  house  and  outbuildings.  Her  son  and  her  grandson  con- 
tinued the  work  of  improvement,  and  her  grandson's  wife 
spent  $500  in  cash  keeping  the  place  up.  But,  leaving  aside 
this  expenditure  of  money,  there  was  spent  on  the  farm  the 
heart-breaking  labor  of  three  generations.  4 

And  the  result?   For  an  unpaid  claim  of  $125  the  whole 


64  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 

farm,  buildings,,  improvements  and  all,  was  seized  by  the 
landlord.  The  third  generation  was  left  homeless,  poorer 
than  the  brave  grandmother  when  she  emigrated  to  London 
seventy  years  ago.  There  may  be  proper  comments  upon 
this  story.    I  shall  not  attempt  any. 

When  the  Kings  were  put  on  the  roadside  the  neighbors 
took  upon  themselves  their  misery  as  part  of  the  common 
burden.  One  man  offered  a  cow  stable  for  which  he  had  no 
use,  his  cattle  having  been  sold  by  the  bailiffs  to  satisfy  a  rent 
claim.  In  this  reeking  place  the  father  and  mother  and  their 
two  children  took  shelter.  With  the  help  of  neighbors  the 
filth  wras  cleared  out,  the  thatch  repaired  and  the  doors  made 
tight  against  the  cold  weather.  There  the  family  are  living 
to-day  in  a  place  where  no  self-respecting  man  in  America 
would  stable  a  horse  he  valued.  This  is  the  end  of  seventy 
years  of  work. 

The  principal  object  of  this  trip  was  to  discover  a  con- 
trast. In  this  neighborhood  the  great  Dillon  estate  and  the 
estates  of  Lord  de  Freyne  and  the  Murphy  family  may  be 
found  side  by  side.  The  Dillon  estate,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, was  purchased  three  years  ago  by  the  Congested  Dis- 
tricts Board,  and  is  now  in  slow  process  of  resale  to  the 
tenants.  These  make  small  payments,  and  in  time  will  own 
their  homesteads.  Their  neighbors,  under  the  Murphy  and 
de  Freyne  regimes,  pay  fifty  per  cent,  more  for  rent  merely. 
On  the  Dillon  estate  the  board  is  digging  a  drainage  system, 
enlarging  holdings  and  building  comfortable  houses.  On  the 
other  lands  nothing  is  done  for  the  tenants.  The  result  is 
not  surprising.  T  his  district  is  the  very  hotbed  of  agitation. 
Those  who  are  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  ownership  are 
fighting  madly  to  raise  themselves.  There  have  been  refusals 
to  pay  rent,  consequent  evictions,  public  meetings  suppressed, 
speakers  sent  to  prison.  The  whole  countryside  is  in  a  fer- 
ment, which  Dublin  Castle,  through  the  police,  is  trying  to 
quell  by  attacking  the  few  liberties  the  people  have. 

Lough  Glynn  was  the  largest  settlement  we  reached. 
It  consists  of  a  row  of  houses  set  on  either  side  of  the  turn- 
pike. The  best  building  is  the  little  store  and  house  of  Pat- 
rick Webb,  who  is  the  district  leader  of  the  United  Irish 
League.    He  has  been  in  prison,  of  course.    It  is  worth 


THE  HUMAN  SIDE 


65 


while  noting,  by  the  way,  that  the  leaders  in  this  movement 
are  always  found  among  what  we  term  the  "solid"  men  of 
the  community.  Back  of  the  village  is  the  little  lake  which 
gives  it  its  name,  and  on  the  north  shore,  seen  from  the 
village  through  the  surrounding  trees,  stands  Lough  Glynn 
House,  once  the  seat  of  Lord  Dillon.  I  was  curious  to  see 
the  place. 

We  took  the  road  around  the  western  end  of  the  lake, 
entered  where  the  rusted  gates  still  hung  to  the  old  stone 
pillars,  and  passed  up  a  magnificent  avenue  of  trees,  through 
which  we  could  see  the  lake,  lying  blue  in  the  sun.  This 
brought  us  to  the  rear  of  the  house,  among  the  long  rows  of 
stables  and  outbuildings.  The  caretaker  was  absent,  and  the 
place  was  quite  silent.  The  air  of  desertion  was  oppressive. 
I  walked  around  to  the  front  of  the  house.  The  windows 
stared  blankly  across  the  lawn  and  shrubbery  and  down  to 
the  lake.  This  old  gray  house  was  a  type  of  the  passing 
regime.  The  owner,  who  never  called  it  his  home,  is  gone, 
and  all  the  fair  demesne  has  passed  to  the  people  who  were 
his  servants. 

It  did  not  take  much  imagination  to  people  the  house 
with  a  jolly  party.  Grooms  lounged  at  the  stables.  The 
big  front  doors,  were  open,  and  across  the  lawn  came  serv- 
ants with  tea  for  those  who  strolled  under  the  trees. 
Laughter  floated  up  from  the  lake,  where  boats  glided  over 
the  smooth  waters.  Everything  here  was  peace  and  plenty 
and  pleasure.  And  outside  the  park  gates  the  people  toiled 
without  reward  and  without  hope.  Now  it  is  the  house  that 
is  without  hope,  silent  and  deserted.  Soon  the  woods  where 
no  peasant  would  have  dared  to  set  his  foot  will  be  leveled, 
and  tidy  farmhouses  will  be  built  where  the  game  was  pur- 
sued by  indolent  hunters.  The  people  are  coming  back  to 
their  own. 

Pat  Tuohy  and  I  traveled  many  males  that  day.  On  the 
Dillon  estate  we  saw  where  the  Congested  Districts  Board 
had  built  fences  and  drains  and  made  roads  and  erected 
houses.  Often  the  old  and  new  stood  nearly  side  by  side — 
the  thatched  hut  already  falling  into  decay  and  the  slate- 
roofed  house  of  stone  speaking  of  decency  and  comfort. 
On  our  way  back  we  struck  again  through  the  desolate  scenes 
5 


66 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


of  the  unimproved  estates,  where  the  bleak,  arid  landscape 
is  rendered  all  the  more  hideous  by  the  wretched  homes  of 
the  tenants.  We  went  up  nearly  as  far  as  Ballaghaderreen, 
then  around  by  Frenchpark,  the  seat  of  Lord  de  Freyne,  and 
so  back  to  Castlerea  by  moonlight.  I  had  seen  more  misery 
than  I  can  ever  describe,  and  much  simple  happiness  where 
the  people  had  had  a  chance  to  work  for  themselves.  But 
one  scene  remained  in  my  mind  and  one  voice  rang  in  my 
ears.  As  we  left  the  sorry  little  home  of  Bernard  King  and 
his  wife  I  put  a  piece  of  silver  in  the  baby's  hand.  The 
mother  tried  to  give  it  back,  but  her  eyes  filled  with  tears 
and  she  gave  up. 

"God  bless  you,  sir,"  she  whispered,  brokenly,  "and  a 
happy,  happy  home  to  you !" 

She  had  wished  for  me  the  supreme  blessing  which  she 
had  never  known. 


i 


CONSTABULARY  AT  AN  EVICTION. 


BERNARD  KING  AND  HIS  STABLE  HOME. 


IX 


SOME  OF  THE  RECORD 

With  John  Fitzgibbon  I  had  traversed  miles  upon  miles 
of  fertile  lands,  where  there  are  no  inhabitants  but  a  few 
cattle  herders,  and  later  I  had  visited  the  poverty-stricken 
settlements  which  have  grown  up  in  the  bogs  and  on  the 
rocky  wastes.    He  explained  the  situation  at  length. 

"In  this  district,"  he  said,  "it  is  not  high  rents  that  keep 
the  people  poor.  Though  the  Land  Commission  were  to  give 
them  their  present  farms  free,  they  could  not  support  them- 
selves. The  necessity  is  to  let  them  have  decent  land,  which 
by  industry  may  be  made  to  feed  and  clothe  those  who 
occupy  it. 

"You  saw  the  thousands  of  acres  of  rich  soil  now  used 
for  cattle  ranches,  but  still  bearing  the  marks  of  destroyed 
homesteads.  Away  back  in  the  thirties  the  landlords  began 
to  get  rid  of  their  tenants.  The  famine  of  '49  gave  great 
impetus  to  the  clearing  out,  and  the  enormous  demand  for 
cattle  during  the  Crimean  War  was  another  thing  that  turned 
the  landlords  toward  grazing  as  more  profitable  than  tenant 
farming.  A  landlord,  instead  of  having  to  collect  rents  from 
two  hundred  or  three  hundred  tenants,  found  he  could  let  the 
same  land  to  half  a  dozen  big  grazers.  This  rid  him  of  a 
lot  of  trouble  and  saved  him  the  annoyance  of  constant  agita- 
tion about  excessive  rents. 

"So  the  people  were  driven  out,  those  who  could  pay 
their  rents  with  those  who  couldn't.  But  wasn't  the  landlord 
within  his  rights,  you  say?  To  be  sure  he  was.  But  think 
of  what  those  rights  were  under  the  iniquitous  laws.  By 
statute  he  was  the  owner  not  only  of  the  land,  but  of  every 
improvement  which  generations  of  tenants  had  made.  His 
order  to  them  to  leave  was  a  forfeiture  of  their  property. 
The  houses  and  barns  they  had  built,  where  their  fathers  had 
lived  and  their  children  had  been  born,  passed  to  the  landlord 
absolutely,  and  there  was  no  law  under  which  the  tenant 


67 


68  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


could  recover  a  penny  for  the  home  stolen  from  him.  A 
man's  father  and  grandfather,  perhaps,  reclaimed  the  land 
fifty  or  sixty  years  before;  drained  it,  fenced  it,  built  house 
and  barns.  At  the  command  of  the  landlord  all  the  labor  of 
those  years  was  swept  away. 

"Those  were  terrible  days,  as  my  father  has  told  me. 
The  whole  countryside  was  filled  with  sorrowing,  homeless 
people.  The  blows  of  axe  and  crowbar  were  heard  every- 
where, and  men  and  women  wept  to  see  their  homes  leveled 
by  the  destroyers.  Houses,  barns  and  walls  were  flung  down, 
and  the  stones  that  had  sheltered  happy  families  were  built 
into  fences  around  the  grazing  fields.  I'll  give  you  an 
instance  or  two.  There  was  a  nobleman  who  owned  11,000 
acres,  on  part  of  which  were  more  than  one  hundred  tenants 
with  little  farms.  The  nobleman  was  a  generous  man,  and 
his  tenants  were  better  treated  than  others.  But  he  spent  all 
his  time  in  England,  and  trusted  to  his  agent  to  manage  the 
estate.  This  agent  determined  to  gather  an  estate  for  him- 
self. So,  during  a  time  of  agitation,  he  wrote  to  his 
employer  letters  warning  him  to  remain  away,  as  he  would 
be  assassinated  if  he  came  to  his  Irish  property.  Then  the 
agent  began  to  evict  the  tenants  from  the  lands  he  coveted. 
X early  a  hundred  of  them  were  turned  out  on  the  roadside, 
their  houses  were  torn  down  and  the  agent  became  the  lessee 
of  a  fine  property.  His  grandsons  hold  it  to  this  day,  and 
set  up  to  be  fine  country  gentlemen.  The  descendants  of  the 
evicted  tenants  are  living  over  here  in  the  bogs,  or  are  in 
America. 

"You  heard  me  speak  of  Allen  Pollock,  known  as  the 
'arch  evictor  '  He  was  a  wealthy  Scotch  grazer,  and  when 
the  government  forced  the  sale  of  estates  belonging  to  land- 
lords who  had  become  insolvent  this  Pollock  bought  great 
tracts.  The  sales  were  made  through  the  Incumbered 
Estates  Court,  established  in  1848,  and  authority  was  given 
to  clear  out  the  tenants.  Pollock  evicted  1100  families. 
No  reason  or  excuse  was  necessary,  beyond  the  fact  that  he 
wanted  the  lands.  Men  who  had  been  born  and  raised  on 
the  little  farms  were  put  on  the  roadside.  Many  had 
struggled  through  the  famine,  only  to  be  evicted  at  last,  in 
spite  of  their  ability  to  pay  the  rents.    Pollock's  idea  was  to 


SOME  OF  THE  RECORD 


work  his  land  as  a  series  of  great  farms,  under  the  care  of 
stewards  and  laborers.  But  the  scheme  tailed.  In  fifteen 
years  a  receiver  was  appointed  and  the  land  was  divided  up 
among  half  a  dozen  grazers.  The  cattle  browse  to-day 
where  the  homes  of  5000  people  once  stood. 

"In  these  terrible  days  the  estates  of  Lord  Dillon  and 
Lord  de  Freyne  became  a  refuge  for  evicted  tenants.  They 
took  hundreds  of  holdings,  only  the  worst  land  being  obtain- 
able by  them,  and  there  they  began  again  the  struggle  for 
existence.  You  have  seen  to  what  misery  they  have 
descended.  It  is  almost  incredible  the  amount  of  labor  that 
has  been  expended  in  trying  to  reclaim  these  worthless  lands. 
In  most  places  the  soil  is  so  light  that  the  poor  tenants  had  to 
spread  gravel  on  it  to  give  it  weight.  They  dug  the  gravel 
from  the  beds  and  carried  it  in  creels  on  their  backs  and 
spread  it  on  the  lands — sometimes  as  much  as  a  hundred 
tons  to  the  acre. 

"Each  landlord  had  a  man  in  his  employ  called  a  land 
valuer.  This  man's  duty  was  to  inspect  the  holdings  from 
time  to  time,  estimate  the  improvements  and  raise  the  rents 
accordingly.  Land  which  wTas  rented  at  the  beginning  for 
three  shillings  an  acre  had  to  pay  more  each  year  as  it  was 
improved,  until  the  price  rose  to  twelve  or  fifteen  shillings 
an  acre.  The  rent  of  the  Dillon  estate  rose  from  £5000  to 
£26,000  in  eighty  years.  Every  shilling  of  the  increase  was 
paid  by  the  tenants  in  improvements  they  made  by  their  own 
labor.  The  result  was,  of  course,  to  discourage  thrift.  The 
man  who  tried  to  improve  his  condition  paid  dearly  for  it. 
The  system  put  a  premium  on  laziness  and  a  penalty  on 
industry.  There  were  occasional  outbursts  of  protest  and 
violence;  but  for  the  most  part  the  poor  people  were  driven 
dumbly  to  their  fate.  No  leader  dared  to  rise  up  and  cham- 
pion them,  for  that  meant  imprisonment.  It  was  not  until 
the  Land  League  agitation  of  1879  swept  over  the  country 
that  effective  defense  was  found.  This  outburst,  with  all  the 
lawlessness  it  caused,  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the  Land  Act 
of  1881. 

"Now  for  the  present  agitation.  The  Dillon  and  de 
Freyne  estates,  as  you  know,  lie  side  by  side.  On  the  Dillon 
estate,  which  was  bought  by  the  Congested  Districts  Board 


70  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 

three  years  ago,  the  tenants  are  getting  comfortable  homes, 
their  holdings  are  being  enlarged  and  they  pay  one-third  less 
per  year  as  purchase  money  than  their  neighbors  on  private 
estates  pay  for  rent.  Naturally,  the  unfortunate  ones  grew 
bitterly  discontented,  and  a  year  ago>  they  determined  to  try 
to  obtain  better  terms.  A  deputation,  appointed  at  a  meet- 
ing, went  to  call  on  Lord  de  Freyne  with  a  request  that  he 
reduce  their  rents  to  the  figure  which  their  neighbors  paid  as 
purchase  instalments.  The  gates  of  Frenchpark  were  shut 
against  them.  The  landlord  would  not  even  receive  their 
protest.  The  war  was  on.  A  meeting  was  held  in  the  village 
of  Frenchpark,  where  it  was  decided  not  to  pay  any  more 
rent  and  to  raise  a  defense  fund.  John  Dillon  was  in  Bal- 
laghaderreen  at  the  time,  and  was  asked  to  sanction  the 
project;  but  as  John  Redmond  was  in  America,  he  declined 
to  encourage  the  movement  at  that  period.  But  the  tenants 
were  determined,  and  when,  ten  days  later,  writs  of  eviction 
were  served  on  the  Murphy  estate  tenants,  the  struggle 
began.  The  same  day  a  big  meeting  was  held  at  Fairy- 
mount,  which  I  attended.  A  proposition  was  made  to*  create 
a  defense  fund  by  taxing  each  tenant  one  shilling  in  the  pound 
on  the  valuation  of  his  holding.  With  the  idea  of  discour- 
aging the  movement,  for  I  did  not  consider  the  time  ripe  for 
it,  I  declared  the  assessment  would  have  to  be  at  least  five 
shillings  in  the  pound.  The  tenants  agreed  promptly,  and 
thereupon  it  became  my  duty  to  support  the  project  heart  and 
soul.    I  have  done  so." 

?  "Wait  a  minute.  As  I  understand  it,  the  rents  of  these 
farms  have  been  fixed  by  the  Land  Commission,  at  figures 
which  are  presumably  just.  The  landlords  had  no  part  in 
fixing  them.  How  do  you  justify  the  tenants  in  their  refusal 
to  pay?" 

"First,  because  their  neighbors  paid  one-third  less  for 
purchase;  second,  because  the  so-called  judicial  rents  are  out- 
rageously excessive.  The  Commissioners  know  nothing 
whatever  of  land.  The  labor  expended  in  reclaiming  the 
farms  during  the  last  fifty  years  amounts  to  more  than  the 
true  value.  Evictions  on  the  de  Freyne  estate  began  in  July. 
The  usual  course  is  to  sue  for  ejectment  in  the  county  courts, 
where  the  costs  against  the  tenant  are  from  $10  to  $12. 


SOME  OF  THE  RECORD 


7i 


Lord  de  Freyne  choose  to  go  to  the  Superior  Court,  though 
that  process  could  give  him  possession  only  two  weeks  sooner. 
There  the  costs  to  the  tenant  averaged  $200,  which,  of 
course,  made  it  quite  impossible  for  the  tenants  to  pay.  The 
committee  in  charge  defended  the  suits,  but  lost,  and  the 
tenants  were  turned  out.  Each  family  receives  $5  a  week 
from  the  fund." 

This  seemed  to  me  a  costly  war.  A  refusal  to  pay  rents, 
consequent  eviction  by  due  process  of  law,  and  the  support  of 
evicted  families  out  of  a  common  fund. 

"What  good  have  you  accomplished  by  this  remarkable 
system?"  I  asked.  John  Fitzgibbon  smote  the  table  with  his 
fist. 

"It  has  brought  you  here,"  he  said.  "It  has  spread  an 
agitation  through  Ireland  which  will  not  subside  until  the 
question  is  settled.  It  has  focused  the  attention  of  the  whole 
British  people  and  their  government  upon  the  injustice  that 
rules  here.  It  has  attracted  the  notice  of  the  United  States, 
and  a  great  i\merican  newspaper  sends  a  special  correspond- 
ent here  to  describe  conditions  as  they  are.  The  cost  is  great, 
but  we  are  satisfied  with  the  results." 


X 


CONGESTION  AND  MIGRATION 

All  over  Ireland  the  injustice  of  the  land  system  is 
apparent,  but  it  is  in  the  West  that  the  conditions  have 
ground  the  people  down  into  such  misery  that  only  revolu- 
tionary legislation  can  lift  them  up  again.  The  present  pur- 
pose is,  therefore,  to  take  a  more  general  survey  of  the  west- 
ern problem.  The  government  recognized  its  existence  in 
i  89 1  by  the  establishment  of  the  Congested  Districts  Board. 
A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  how  great  was  the  need 
for  measures  of  amelioration.  The  congested  districts 
cover  3,500,000  acres,  with  a  population  of  more  than 
500,000.  Nearly  seven-eighths  of  Donegal,  three-fourths  of 
Leitrim,  a  third  of  Sligo  and  Roscommon,  the  greater  part 
of  Mayo,  half  of  Galway  and  Kerry  and  a  fourth  part  of 
Cork — in  these  lands  a  half  million  souls  are  sunk  in  dire 
poverty.  Those  districts  investigated  personally  by  the 
writer  lie  in  Roscommon,  Mayo  and  Galway.  The  investi- 
gation might  have  been  prolonged  indefinitely.  "You  may 
go  to  five  hundred  places,"  I  was  told,  "but  you  will  find  only 
the  same  story  five  hundred  times  repeated." 

Under  the  act  creating  the  Board,  a  "congested  district" 
is  one  in  which  the  average  annual  ratable  valuation  is  less 
than  $7.50  for  each  person.  The  unit  of  congestion  is  the 
electoral  division,  of  which  there  are  3652.  In  all,  429 
divisions  were  scheduled  as  congested,  and  the  population  of 
these  districts,  estimated  at  more  than  half  a  million,  came 
under  the  care  of  the  Board. 

How  poor  are  these  people?  Some  figures  may  illus- 
trate the  answer.  The  "poor  law  valuation"  of  the  districts 
— that  is,  the  yearly  taxable  value  of  all  the  property — is 
about  $5  for  each  individual.  But  this  is  a  very  vague  state- 
ment, after  all.  I  am  able  to  present  figures  showing  the 
actual  condition  of  typical  families,  as  discovered  through 
investigation  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture.   The  fcllow- 

72 


CONGESTION  AND  MIGRATION  J* 


ing  table  shows  the  receipts  and  expenditures  for  a  year 
family  of  live  persons  "in  ordinary  circumstances" : 


c:  a 


Sale 


RECEXPTSL 

bullock  

5  sheep  

fig 


  $82-50 

  18-75 

.,   17.50 

eggs  - 

homespun   17-50 

com   3.15 

tish   4*}  .00 

knitting-,  etc.   5.00 


EXPENDITURES. 

Kent  HClflO 

Taxes  

Tea   29-25 

Sugar   9-75 

ileal   3 

Flour   

Clothing'       — --»«.   3 

Tobacco   1 

One  young  pig   3.75 

Implements,  etc  -  -  6.18 


Food  raised  and  consumed  on  the  farm,  about   35X0 

This  family  lives  on  the  sea  coast  of  Gaiway,  so  that 
fishing  supplies  part  cf  the  revenue.  The  fcllowing  sh  "  s 
the  condition  of  a  family  of  four  persons,  "in  the  poorest 
circumstances/'  cs  orrkiaiiy  reported: 

RECEIPTS.  EXPFuvDITOcES. 

Sale  of  eggs    *o.T5     Rent   £3.10 

Sixty  days'  labor,  at  25c. .    15.00     Taxes   -50 

Herding  cattle   20.00    Meal   29125 

  Clothing   ±-50 

$4*>.75     Groceries    - 


Potatoes  grown  on  the  farm  and  eaten   20.00 

It  will  be  observ  ed  that  this  family  of  four  persons  con- 
sumes S79.2 5  worth  of  food  during  the  year,  or  it  the  rare 
of  less  than  live  and  one-half  cents  per  day  each.  Coarse 
meal  and  potatoes  form  the  staple  diet.  These  are  cruy 
figures,  but  they  are  government  figures,  and  may  aid  Ameri- 
cans to  understand  what  the  poverty  in  "congested  districts'' 
is.  The  family  just  cited  is  typical  of  thousands  of  families 
in  the  West.  There  are  many  more,  however,  whose  condi- 
tion is  somewhat  better.  I  mean  these  whose  able-bodied 
members  migrate  to  England  and  Scotland  every  year  and 
toil  in  the  fields,  returning  with  a  few  pounds  in  money  to 
carry  them  through  the  winter.  The  reports  give  the  receipts 
of  such  a  family,  from  all  sources,  at  S205  for  the  year; 
expenditures,  $213.75:  home  produce  consumed,  575.  And 
this  family,  consisting  of  six  persons,  is  cited  as  being  in 


74 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


"comparatively  good  circumstances" !  As  to  the  general 
conditions  of  life  before  the  establishment  of  the  Congested 
Districts  Board,  I  quote  the  report  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture : 

"The  great  majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  in  possession  of 
small  plots— they  could  hardly  be  called  farms— generally  about 
two  to  four  acres  in  extent.    The  rents  for  these  holdings  varied 


SHADED  PORTIONS  SHOW  CONGESTED  DISTRICTS 


from  a  few  shillings  to  several  pounds  a  year.  The  plots  were 
usually  planted  with  potatoes  and  oats,  and  the  methods  of  culti- 
vation were  extremely  primitive.  There  was  no  rotation  of  crops, 
no  adequate  supply  of  manure  and  no  proper  system  of  drainage, 
whilst  the  breeds  of  live  stock  were  worn  out  and  of  little  value. 
The  result  was  that  the  inhabitants  were  forced  to  depend  very 


CONGESTION  AND  MIGRATION 


75 


largely  upon  certain  secondary  sources  of  income  of  an  uncertain 
and  varying  nature.  Many  of  them  received  occasional  gifts  from 
relatives  in  America,  whilst  weaving,  knitting  and  sewing  formed 
other  small  subsidiary  sources  of  income.  The  results  of  sea  fish- 
ing helped  the  families  dwelling  along  the  coast  to  eke  out  a  scanty 
living,  whilst  those  living  inland  depended  largely  upon  the  wages 
earned  during  some  months  of  the  year  as  migratory  agricultural 
laborers  in  England  or  Scotland. 

"Thus  in  most  cases  the  people  did  not  really  live  on  the  produce 
of  their  holdings,  but  rather  on  some  secondary  source  of  income, 
such  as  field  labor  in  England  or  Scotland.  They  paid  a  rent  for 
their  holding,  generally  not  because  of  its  agricultural  value,  but 
rather  because  it  was  necessary  to  have  some  home  for  their  family. 
In  a  'good  year'  many  of  the  inhabitants  were  little  more  than  free 
from  the  dread  of  hunger,  whilst  a  bad  year,  arising  from  the 
complete  or  partial  failure  of  their  crops,  produced  a  condition  of 
semi-starvation." 

A  brief  and  comprehensive  statement  of  conditions  in 
the  congested  districts  was  given  by  a  witness  before  a  royal 
commission  on  local  taxation.  He  said:  "In  the  congested 
districts  there  are  two  classes,  namely,  the  poor  and  the  desti- 
tute." But  while  the  report  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture is  of  great  interest,  it  fails  to  set  forth  certain  vital 
facts.    These  are: 

First — With  the  exception  of  a  few  restricted  localities, 
conditions  are  precisely  the  same  as  before  the  creation  of  the 
Congested  Districts  Board.  The  extracts  quoted  above 
might  be  read  in  the  present  tense. 

Second — The  congestion  of  people  is  on  barren  lands, 
where,  within  easy  reach  of  them,  often  at  the  very  borders 
of  their  wretched  holdings,  there  are  thousands  of  acres  of 
prime  lands,  rented  by  the  landlords  to  cattle  grazers. 

Third — Until  the  people  are  enabled  by  the  government 
to  purchase  adequate  farms  they  will  remain  in  the  same  con- 
dition of  hopeless  misery. 

I  would  not  be  understood  in  this  as  criticising  the  work 
of  the  Congested  Districts  Board.  That  would  be  an  absurd 
attitude  for  one  who  is  hardly  more  than  a  casual  visitor. 
But  while  even  the  most  fervent  land  reformers  praise  the 
zeal  of  the  board  and  welcome  its  uplifting  influence,  they 
point  out  that  progress  is  desperately  slow  and  that  all  the 
good  accomplished  has  but  touched  the  edges  of  the  problem. 
What  has  been  done  during  the  eleven  years?    They  have 


76 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


purchased  estates  aggregating  153,000  acres,  at  a  total  cost 
of  $2,154,000.  But  the  purchase  is  only  a  single  step  in  the 
process.  Usually  several  years  are  spent  in  negotiations,  and 
when  the  matter  is  arranged  other  years  pass  in  perfecting 
the  complex  details  of  transfer.  Meanwhile  the  people  suffer 
and  die. 

Yet  whatever  criticism  there  may  be  regarding  delays, 
there  can  be  none  regarding  the  ultimate  results.  Clare 
Island  is  a  splendid  example  of  what  the  board  is  doing  and 
how  the  work  is  benefiting  the  people.  The  property  con- 
tains nearly  4000  acres.  Under  the  tenant  system  the  most 
desperate  confusion  grew  up.  There  were  no  fences.  No 
tenant  knew  positively  where  his  land  began  or  ended.  The 
whole  island  was  practically  held  in  common,  and  cattle 
strayed  at  will  through  the  meager  crops.  The  ninety-five 
tenants  who  existed  there  paid  nearly  $2500  rent  for  their 
miserable  little  holdings.  The  first  thing  the  board  did  was 
to  build  a  wall  across  the  island,  separating  the  common 
grazing  ground  from  the  tilled  lands.  Drains  were  con- 
structed and  fifty  miles  of  fences  were  built.  The  most  com- 
plicated task  was  rearranging  the  scattered  holdings  so  that 
each  tenant  should  have  a  compact  farm.  The  land  was 
"striped"  into  regular  areas,  stone  walls  dividing  one  from 
another.  Thus,  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives,  the  people 
found  themselves  with  lands  which  they  could  call  their  own. 

v  When  the  board  took  hold  of  the  property  the  occu- 
pants owed  two  years'  rent  to  the  landlord.  Employment 
upon  the  draining  and  fencing  work  enabled  them  to  pay  up 
these  arrears.  For  four  years  more  they  were  tenants  of  the 
board,  and  the  report  shows  they  paid  every  penny  due. 
They  are  now  actual  owners  of  their  farms,  paying  an  aggre- 
gate of  $1725  a  year  as  purchase  money  instead  of  $2500  a 
year  as  rent. 

In  all  of  these  districts,  it  will  be  remembered,  the 
term  "congestion"  does  not  mean  that  the  population  is  exces- 
sive for  the  whole  area,  but  that  through  the  operation  of  the 
land  system  the  people  have  been  crowded  into  barren 
patches,  while  the  best  soil  grows  only  grass  for  pasturing 
cattle.  The  great  object  of  the  board  is  to  provide  for  each 
family  and  sell  to  that  family  a  farm  which  is  big  enough — 


CONGESTION  AND  MIGRATION 


77 


say  twenty-five  to  thirty  acres — and  rich  enough  to  furnish  a 
comfortable  living  when  industriously  worked.  Since  the 
people  are  crowded  together  in  spots,  and  since  often  there 
is  not  enough  good  land  in  the  neighborhood  to  distribute, 
the  beard  is  compelled  to  arrange  migration.  Thus  some 
tenants  in  a  crowded  locality  will  be  persuaded  to  give  up 
their  holdings,  which  are  then  divided  among  those  who 
remain,  until  each  has  a  compact  and  adequate  farm.  The 
migrants  then  move  to  another  district,  where  similar  provi- 
sion has  been  made  for  them. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  whole  problem  is  infinitely  com- 
plicated. It  is  necessary-  to  recolonize  the  west  of  Ireland, 
and  as  the  greater  part  of  the  land  is  still  owned  by  landlords, 
the  operation  is  difficult.  Rather  may  we  say  that  under 
present  conditions  it  is  hopeless.  Every  man  in  Great  Britain 
whose  opinion  is  recognized  as  sound  is  convinced  now  that 
the  solution  of  the  Irish  land  question,  and  particularly  of  the 
terrible  problem  of  the  West,  can  be  found  only  in  abolishing 
the  archaic  system  of  Irish  landlordism  and  establishing  the 
peasants  as  proprietors  of  the  land  they  till. 

On  my  first  trip  to  the  West  I  was  rather  astonished  to 
find  that  the  train  consisted  of  more  than  a  dozen  carriages, 
and  that  the  third-class  compartments  were  crowded  with 
sturdy-looking  men.  Having  heard  of  the  poverty  of  the 
districts  into  which  I  was  going,  I  was  not  prepared  to  see 
such  heavy  passenger  traffic.  Surely  these  men  had  not  been 
away  for  a  holiday?  At  a  junction  station  a  broad- 
shouldered,  bearded  man,  with  a  heavy  bundle  hanging  on 
his  shoulder,  cheerfully  enlightened  me. 

"Sure.  sir.  we've  all  been  over  in  England  workinY'  he 
said.  "Some  have  been  gone  three  months,  some  six.  I've 
been  away  since  April  myself,  and  there's  twenty  good 
pounds  in  me  pocket  this  blessed  minute  to  pay  the  rent  an' 
buy  a  bit  of  bacon  an'  that  for  the  winter." 

"But  what  do  you  go  to  England  for?  Why  not  stay 
on  your  own  farm  and  work  that?" 

"Ay,  why  not?  You're  a  nice  spoken  gentleman,  but 
beggin'  yer  pardon,  it's  little  you  know  of  our  country.  I 
can  see  that.  Why  don't  we  stay  here?  God  save  you,  sir, 
an'  do  you  think  we  go  to  England  because  we  like  it?  Is 


78 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


it  likely  we'd  leave  our  own  farms  if  so  be  we'd  get  food  an' 
clothes  an'  rent  by  stayin'  ?  Bad  luck  to  it,  we  go  because 
we  have  to.  My  boy's  away  in  America,  so  there's  only  the 
old  woman  an'  me,  an'  I  have  to  leave  half  the  year  an' 
work  in  a  furrin'  land — England,  mind  ye — to  get  the  money 
we  need." 

"Then  why  not  go  to  England  altogether?" 

The  big  man  turned  and  looked  over  the  desolate  coun- 
try. The  winter  dusk  was  falling  swiftly  and  the  outlines 
of  the  hills  were  indistinct,  but  we  could  still  see  the  empty 
land  and  feel  its  rugged  unkindness.  Yet  the  man's  voice 
was  very  tender  as  he  spoke. 

"Twenty  miles  on,"  he  said,  "there's  a  bit  of  a  cabin 
and  a  bit  of  land.  In  that  cabin  I  was  born  and  on  that  land 
my  father  worked.  Is  it  like,  now,  that  I'd  leave  it  to  live 
in  England  or  anywhere  else?  Man,  have  ye  got  a  home? 
It's  a  rough  place  at  the  best,  and  not  all  the  muscles  I've 
got  can  dig  a  livin'  out  of  it.  But,  God  be  good  to  me,  I  love 
it,  sir." 

I  learned  much  more  at  other  times  from  men  and  writ- 
ings concerning  this  yearly  migration  of  the  workers,  but  the 
great  truth  of  it  lay  in  the  simple  words  of  this  rugged  toiler. 
They  love  their  land,  these  Irish ! 

Consider  what  they  do.  They  occupy  little  barren 
patches,  where  even  with  prosperous  seasons  life  is  a  struggle. 
They  know  they  cannot,  howsoever  great  their  industry,  feed 
and  clothe  themselves  from  the  products  of  the  soil.  They 
know  that  every  spring  the  strongest  of  the  family  must  go 
away  and  work  among  strangers.  Yet  when  the  hard  task  is 
over,  when  they  have  painfully  saved  the  pennies  earned, 
they  come  back  to  the  old  places  and  fight  through  the  cruel 
winter  with  the  earnings  of  their  sacrifice. 

According  to  the  returns  compiled  by  the  Board  of 
Trade,  24,438  persons  migrated  from  Connaught  alone  in 
1902.  It  is  estimated  that  they  brought  back  average  earn- 
ings of  $37.50,  or  a  total  of  $916,425.  That  amounts  to 
twenty-seven  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  the  entire  rent  of  the 
province,  and  has  to  be  earned  outside  of  the  country.  There 
are  31,873  families  in  Connaught  whose  holdings  are  worth 
less  than  $20  a  year.    Therefore,  nearly  every  one  of  these 


CONGESTION  AND  MIGRATION  79 

families  had  to  send  a  member  to  England  to  earn  the  neces- 
saries of  life  for  the  winter.  A  few  facts  regarding  definite 
localities  will  illustrate  how  grievous  is  the  condition  which 
entails  this  unnatural  system  of  migratory  labor.  One  priest 
in  Donegal  reported  a  few  years  ago  that  out  of  7000  persons 
in  his  parish  1000  had  to  spend  several  months  of  each  year 
away  from  home.  Some  went  to  the  more  prosperous  coun- 
ties in  the  east  of  Ireland,  the  greater  number  to  England. 
From  the  district  of  Rathmore,  Kerry,  the  priest  reported, 
200  to  300  girls  left  in  the  middle  of  March  and  did  not 
return  until  December  1.  Perhaps  the  worst  feature  of  the 
system  is  that  it  does  not  spare  the  women,  nor  even  the 
children.  A  special  correspondent  of  the  London  Times 
reported  that  the  migrants  included  "practically  every  man, 
boy  and  girl  able  to  work." 

"It  cannot  be  regarded  as  satisfactory  or  desirable,"  he 
said,  "to  perpetuate  a  social  condition  in  which  it  is  needful 
for  children  of  ages  varying  from  nine  to  fifteen  years  to  leave 
their  homes  and  be  employed  chiefly  in  agricultural  work  in 
distant  places  without  care  or  oversight." 

If  the  reader  will  remember  that  we  are  talking  of 
human  beings,  of  women  and  children,  he  will  find  nothing 
"dry"  in  the  formal  reports  and  figures  dealing  with  this 
question.    The  Bessborough  Commission  stated: 

"The  condition  of  the  poorer  tenants  in  numerous  parts 
of  Ireland,  where  it  is  said  they  are  not  able,  if  they  had  the 
land  gratis,  to  live  by  cultivating  it.  is  by  some  thought  to 
be  an  almost  insoluble  problem." 

The  O'Connor  Don,  a  member  of  that  commission, 
added  this: 

"There  are  portions  of  Ireland  in  which  the  land  is  so 
bad  and  is  so  thickly  populated  that  the  questions  of  tenure 
and  rent  are  mere  trifles.  If  the  present  occupiers  had  the 
land  forever  and  for  nothing,  they  could  not,  in  the  best  of 
years,  live  decently,  and  in  bad  years  they  must  be  in  a  state 
of  starvation." 

Mr.  P.  W.  Coyne,  superintendent  of  statistics  in  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  wrote  two  years  ago: 

"They  (the  migratory  laborers)  are  not,  properly 
speaking,  agricultural  laborers  at  all.    They  are  as  a  class 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


small  landholders,  or  the  wives,  sons  and  daughters  of  small 
landholders.  Were  it  not  for  the  annual  migration  to  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  these  poor  people,  low  as  their  standard 
of  comfort  is,  certainly  could  not  make  ends  meet." 
The  Congested  Districts  Board  report  says: 
"In  a  good  year  they  are  little  more  than  free  from  the 
dread  of  hunger,  while  a  complete  or  partial  failure  of  their 
crop  involves,  as  a  consequence,  proportionately  greater  or 
less  suffering  from  insufficient  food." 

Now  for  some  eloquent  figures  concerning  the  migra- 
tion in  this  year  1902.  From  Mayo  county,  18,838  men 
went  to  England  and  Scotland.  They  represented  thirty- 
six  per  cent,  of  the  adult  male  population  and  forty-five 
per  cent,  of  the  adult  population  engaged  in  agriculture. 
The  figures  from  some  of  the  districts  are  even  more  startling. 
The  following  table  shows  the  total  migration  from  the  dis- 
tricts named  and  the  percentage  of  the  total  adult  male  popu- 
lation represented : 

Migrants.   Per  cent. 

Swinford   5919  59 

Castlerea    4560  50 

Westport    3056  49 

Claremorris    3411  50 

Castlebar   2173  41 

Year  after  year  they  leave  their  homes,  their  families 
and  their  friends,  and  go  far  away,  among  strangers,  to 
gather  with  bitter  toil  the  money  for  the  winter's  food.  And 
the  returning  season  always  finds  them  back,  clinging  dog- 
gedly to  the  barren  soil.  The  man  on  the  station  platform 
was  right. 

"God  be  good  to  them,  they  love  the  land." 


XI 


THE  WAR  ON  LIBERTY 

We  sat,  John  Fitzgibbon  and  I,  on  either  side  of  his 
big  fireplace,  where  the  turf  embers  glowed  redly.  My  mind 
pictured  again  the  country  I  had  ridden  through,  the  fair 
lands  where  there  are  only  the  scars  of  leveled  homesteads, 
and  the  cruel  barrens  where  men  and  women  strive  in  helpless 
misery.  It  was  good  to  think  that  this  man  with  the  sturdy 
frame  and  rugged,  honest  face  and  straight-thinking  brain 
had  devoted  himself  to  the  people.  Yet  it  seemed  a  pity,  too, 
that  the  state  which  rules  this  country  should  have  made  him 
and  his  kind  implacable  enemies  of  the  system  of  govern- 
ment. The  authorities  had  tried  to  brand  him  a  criminal, 
and  even  now,  as  I  saw  with  my  own  eyes,  he  is  tracked  by 
police  as  though  he  were  plotting  violence.  Here  was 
a  man  of  solid  sense,  honest  in  every  fiber,  his  training 
and  his  social  position  influencing  him  toward  conservatism. 
By  his  own  efforts  he  had  built  up  a  prosperous  business,  the 
success  of  which  he  endangered  everv  hour  he  remained 
actively  in  politics.  Why  should  such  a  man  be  subjected  to 
harassment,  to  persecution,  to  the  indignity  of  convict  stripes? 
Was  he  really  a  menace  to  the  peace  of  the  empire  or  the 
lives  and  property  of  the  King's  subjects?  I  asked  him  those 
questions,  and  his  answer  came  at  once,  without  a  show  of 
resentment. 

»  "You  see  these  two  hands?"  he  said,  holding  them 
forth.  "I  would  give  them  both,  if  the  need  came,  to  save 
the  life  of  the  worst  landlord  in  Ireland.  Yet  with  these 
hands  I  have  broken  stone  and  picked  oakum  as  a  common 
criminal.  It  is  charged  that  I  am  a  dangerous  person.  Oh, 
I  tell  you,  the  officials  of  the  English  government  are  fools 
that  they  pursue  such  methods!  They  sneer  at  Ireland 
because  she  is  disloyal,  and  all  the  while  they  use  the  utmost- 
endeavor  and  ingenuity  to  make  her  disloyal." 
6  81 


82 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


"Tell  me  why  you  have  been  in  prison. " 

"Would  that  interest  Americans?  Well,  perhaps  it 
would.  From  all  I  know  of  your  country,  I  don't  think  they 
understand  this  part  of  our  system.  In  spite  of  my  interests 
as  a  merchant,  which  ought  to  make  me  cautious,  I  have  been 
unable  to  keep  out  of  this  land  fight.  You'll  understand  that 
because  I  know  the  people,  I  live  among  them  and  see  their 
sufferings  day  by  day.  Well,  my  first  offense  was  in  1887, 
in  a  speech  at  a  public  meeting.  There  had  been  some  evic- 
jions  that  were  not  justified,  and  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
feeling  over  the  matter.  Some  of  the  people  were  bitter 
because  certain  men  had  been  selling  food  to  the  police  in 
charge  of  the  empty  houses.  When  I  spoke  of  the  evictions 
a  man  in  the  audience  cried  out :  'How  about  those  who  are 
supplying  milk  to  the  police?'  There  was  a  laugh,  and  I 
thought  best  to  pass  over  the  question  as  a  joke.  So  I  said : 
T  don't  know  anything  about  the  milk,  but  I  am  inclined  to 
think  they  won't  get  much  cream.'  There  was  another  laugh, 
and  the  subject  was  dropped.  I  got  a  month  at  hard  labor 
for  that." 

"In  the  name  of  Gilbert  and  Sullivan,  why  and  how?" 

"You  know  how  the  police  watch  public  meetings? 
One  of  them,  supposed  to>  be  an  expert  shorthand  writer,  is 
sent  to  the  meeting.  He  is  surrounded  by  a  guard  of  police- 
men armed  with  rifles,  who  force  a  way  for  him,  if  necessary, 
until  he  is  close  to  the  speakers.  He  takes  every  word  as 
spoken — or  swears  he  does.  His  report  goes  to  the  police 
authorities,  who  prosecute  whenever  they  desire  to  harass  a 
man  or  check  his  influence  or  frighten  the  people.  I  was 
arrested. 

J  "Now  for  the  system.  The  district  had  been  pro- 
claimed, under  the  Crimes  Act,  and  the  ordinary  privileges 
of  defense  were  suspended.  I  was  tried  by  two  magistrates, 
sent  down  by  Dublin  Castle,  paid  by  Dublin  Castle,  remov- 
able by  Dublin  Castle.  The  witnesses  were  the  police,  paid  by 
Dublin  Castle.  Jury  trial  was  denied  me.  The  two  castle 
magistrates  had  summary  jurisdiction.  I  was  charged  with 
intimidating  public  officers  in  discharge  of  their  duty  and 
inciting  a  boycott  against  them.  I  was  sentenced  to  one 
month  at  hard  labor.    There  was  no  appeal  from  the  decision 


M 

\ 

JOHN  FITZGIBBON. 


IMPROVEMENTS  ON  CLARE  ISLAND  (See  Page  133). 


THE  WAR  ON  LIBERTY  83 


on  points  of  fact.  I  was  taken  from  my  wife  and  family  and 
business  and  sent  to  Castlebar  jail,  where  I  was  put  in  stripes 
and  placed  among  thieves  and  drunkards  and  criminals  of  the 
most  degraded  type.  I  was  put  to  breaking  stone,  picking 
oakum  and  other  burdensome  work.  For  the  first  three  days 
my  breakfast  and  supper  were  bread  and  water,  my  dinner  a 
mixture  of  oatmeal  and  Indian  meal.  After  that  I  had  the 
regular  fare,  including  coarse  soup  three  times  a  week,  pota- 
toes twice  a  week,  a  little  milk  daily  and  a  fixed  amount  of 
bread,  but  no  meat.  During  the  whole  month  I  slept  on  a 
bare  plank  bench." 

"And  your  sole  offense  was  the  remark  you  quoted?" 

"As  I'm  a  living  man,  it  was.  I  hadn't  been  out  of 
prison  long  when  they  were  after  me  again.  At  a  sale  of 
cattle,  which  had  been  seized  from  a  poor  man  for  non- 
payment of  rent,  I  made  a  speech  denouncing  the  system  of 
landlordism.  I  didn't  utter  a  word  more  radical  than  you 
can  hear  any  day  at  meetings  in  England  or  Scotland,  or  in 
the  House  of  Commons  itself.  There  was  no  thought  or 
effect  of  inciting  to  crime,  as  was  charged.  It  was  a  purely 
political  speech,  dealing  with  conditions,  not  persons.  But 
I  was  sentenced  to  four  months,  without  hard  labor.  Again 
I  was  put  in  stripes  and  picked  oakum  under  guard.  I  con- 
formed to  all  the  rules,  until  one  morning  a  warder  roughly 
ordered  myself  and  three  other  political  prisoners  to  perform 
a  certain  menial  and  degrading  task,  though  there  were 
plenty  of  criminals  there  who  might  properly  have  been  sent 
to  do  it.  We  refused,  were  summoned  before  the  governor 
and  he  condemned  us  to  twenty-four  hours  on  bread  and 
water.  A  man  can  stand  a  day  on  starvation  fare,  but  that 
was  not  the  worst  of  the  punishment.  My  cell  was  stripped 
bare,  even  the  printed  rules  being  taken  from  the  wall,  with 
the  bench  and  plank  bed.  I  was  not  allowed  out  for  exer- 
cise, but  was  locked  all  the  time  in  that  bare,  cramped  space 
alone.  No  light  was  permitted,  and  as  this  was  in  January, 
I  was  in  darkness  from  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  until 
eight  the  next  morning.  At  eight  in  the  evening  they  put  in 
the  plank  bed  and  then  I  could  lie  down.  During  this  term 
I  slept  on  the  plank  for  a  month. 

"I  had  been  out  of  prison  just  a  fortnight  when  a  new 


84 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


charge  was  brought  up.  During  a  busy  day  some  one  called 
my  attention  to  a  policeman  in  the  crowd  in  my  shop.  I 
asked  him  what  he  wanted,  and  he  said  he  was  there  on  duty. 
I  told  him  he  had  no  right  there  without  a  warrant,  and  led 
him  to  the  door.  He  returned  and  took  away  with  him  a 
woman  who  had  been  standing  at  a  counter.  She  was  the 
wife  of  a  man  who  had  grabbed  an  evicted  farm.  I  was 
accused  of  refusing  to  sell  her  goods.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
I  had  not  seen  her  at  all.  The  sentence  was  six  months,  but 
I  appealed  to  Judge  O'Connor  Morris,  of  the  County  Court, 
on  questions  of  law,  and  he  reduced  it  two  months.  There 
was  no  further  appeal,  so  I  went  to  jail  again.  During  the 
year  I  was  seven  months  in  the  stripes  of  a  criminal.  I  had 
done  nothing  but  denounce  a  system  which  is  cruel  and  unjust, 
and  which  the  English  government  now  confesses  must  be 
swept  away." 

But  the  police  are  not  yet  satisfied,  and  a  few  weeks  ago 
they  tried  to  send  this  man  to  prison  for  six  months.  By  his 
sheer,  dogged  will  and  unflinching  honesty  he  whipped  the 
agents  of  persecution  in  their  own  court. 

"That  was  the  time  our  friend  Reilly,  who  followed  us 
this  afternoon,"  he  said,  umade  his  bid  for  promotion." 

I  have  the  record  of  this  case,  and  will  give  it  as  briefly 
as  may  be.  On  August  13  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  attended  an  evic- 
tion on  the  estate  of  Lord  de  Freyne,  so  as  to  assist  any 
tenants  who  needed  his  help.  Afterward,  as  he  could  not 
learn  where  the  next  eviction  would  take  place  and  as  he 
wanted  to  be  present,  he  followed  the  agent  and  bailiffs  in 
his  cart.  While  they  drove  along  the  country  roads  the  agent 
was  preceded  and  followed  by  a  dozen  policemen  on  bicycles, 
the  district  inspector  and  a  subordinate  riding  in  a  cart.  At 
a  certain  point  in  the  road  Mr.  Fitzgibbon,  finding  that  the 
police  were  blocking  his  path  purposely,  drove  past  the 
inspector,  taking  the  wrong  side  of  the  road  because  he  was 
forced  to,  and  so  got  among  the  bicycles.  There  was  almost 
a  collision.  The  zealous  Reilly  leaped  from  his  wheel  and 
seized  the  horse's  bridle.  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  struck  the  animal 
with  his  whip  and  urged  it  forward,  but  when  the  inspector 
called  out  to  him  to  stop  he  did  so.  The  official  charged  hirn 
with  trying  to  run  down  the  policemen.    Mr.  Fitzgibbon 


THE  WAR  ON  LIBERTY 


declared  he  had  no  such  intention,  and  the  explanation  was 
apparently  accepted.  Later  he  was  arrested,  charged  with 
obstructing  and  assaulting  the  police  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties. 

Conducting  his  own  defense,  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  had  all 
the  witnesses  excluded  from  the  court  room  except  the  one 
under  examination.  It  was  well  he  did  so.  Reilly  swore  the 
defendant  struck  at  him  with  the  whip,  and  all  the  policemen 
agreed  that  the  assault  and  obstruction  took  place.  But  in 
important  details  the  stories  varied  grotesquely.  The  crown- 
ing point  was  reached  when  the  policeman  riding  with  the 
inspector  admitted  that  his  superior  had  ordered  him  to  turn 
their  horse  and  block  the  road  against  the  civilian.  There 
the  witness  flatly  contradicted  the  inspector  and  proved  that 
the  obstruction  was  a  police  offense.  I  wish  there  were  space 
here  for  Mr.  Fitzgibbon's  summing  up  in  his  own  behalf.  It 
was  worthy  of  a  King's  counsel.  I  must  give  one  paragraph, 
if  only  to  show  how  a  country  storekeeper  in  Ireland  can 
defend  his  liberties  in  a  hostile  court : 

"Now,  your  Worships,  what  have  these  proceedings 
unfolded?  To  any  impartial  mind  it  is  evident  that  a  delib- 
erate and  unlawful  conspiracy  has  been  formed  to  deprive 
me  of  my  liberty.  I  am  one  of  the  King's  subjects,  and  you 
have  no  evidence  to  show  why  an  attack  should  be  made  upon 
me  more  than  upon  any  other  man,  even  yourselves  upon  the 
bench,  to  deprive  me  of  what  I  value  as  highly  as  any  other 
man.  I  do  not  intend  to  delay  you  at  any  length  in  prefacing 
my  summary  of  the  evidence,  but  I  do  say  it  is  a  sad  state  of 
things  in  this  unfortunate  country  of  ours  when  the  men  who 
should  be  the  examples  of  law  and  order,  of  honor  and 
uprightness  can  come  into  this  court  and  tell  the  tales  you 
have  listened  to,  not  one  of  which  corroborated  the  others. 

"Respect  for  the  law!  In  any  well-governed  country 
the  aim  of  every  citizen,  and  more  particularly  those  in 
charge  of  the  peace,  should  be  to  administer  the  law  justly. 
And  if  you  want  to  gain  respect  for  the  law,  you  must  admin- 
ister it  in  such  fashion  that  the  poorest  peasant  in  his  cottage 
will  feel  that  he  has  its  protection  just  as  much  as  the  lord 
in  his  castle.  What  has  this  case  shown?  It  has  been 
actually  nothing  more  than  an  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of 


:  86 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


the  police  and  their  methods  of  dealing  with  political  oppo- 
nents. I  am  certainly  recognized  as  a  political  opponent  of 
the  present  government,  but  that  is  no  reason  why  unfair 
means  should  be  resorted  to  in  order  to  remove  me." 

"The  charges  were  dismissed,"  said  Mr.  Fitzgibbon. 
"But  I  suppose  they  will  get  me  again  some  time.  You  saw 
this  afternoon  how  I  am  dogged  by  the  police.  There  is  one 
on  guard  in  front  of  my  place  of  business  all  the  time.  I 
cannot  go  on  the  street  or  drive  into  the  country  without 
having  a  uniform  at  my  heels.  They  even  watch  members 
of  my  family.  They  have  followed  us  to  mass  on  Sunday 
morning." 

"But,"  I  said,  "how  can  you  talk  calmly  of  a  system 
which  may  drive  you  into  prison  at  any  time?" 

The  face  of  John  Fitzgibbon  was  gravely  thoughtful 
for  a  moment.    Then  he  said: 

"I  value  my  liberty  as  much  as  any  man.  Perhaps  more 
than  others,  because  I  have  suffered,  and  my  wife  and  chil- 
dren have  suffered.  But  I  will  not  abate  one  lawful  act  or 
word  to  save  myself  from  persecution,  if  that  act  or  word 
can  serve  the  people  I  fight  for.  Some  of  us  must  endure 
that  all  may  some  day  be  free." 

It  was  said  so  quietly  and  simply  that  I  could  not  reply 
for  a  moment.  But  I  was  curious  to  know  how  far  these 
experiences  had  embittered  this  man. 

"Supposing  that  the  land  question  were  settled  and  gov- 
ernment abuses  abolished,"  I  asked,  "would  it  be  possible  for 
England  to  win  back  the  loyalty  of  Ireland?" 

A  look  of  whimsical  despair  showed  in  his  face. 

"God  bless  you,"  he  said,  "it's  more  to  England's 
service  than  ours  to  give  us  justice.  I  and  men  like  me  are 
the  best  friends  England  has,  did  the  fools  but  realize  it. 
We  risk  our  fortunes  and  our  liberties  to  bring  about  a  settle- 
ment of  this  question.  They  know  that  the  settlement  will 
benefit  them,  and  they  imprison  us.  Yet  I  believe  that  when 
justice  is  done  to  Ireland  the  empire  will  have  no  more  loyal 
supporters  than  those  the  government  is  persecuting  to-day. 
There  is  not  on  the  face  of  the  earth  a  more  peaceable  race 
than  the  Irish,  no  race  more  forgiving,  none  more  capable 
of  affection  where  it  is  deserved." 


THE  WAR  ON  LIBERTY 


87 


One  thing  is  clear,  England  is  better  served  by  men  like 
John  Fitzgibbon  than  Ireland  is  by  England's  Lord  Lieu- 
tenants. 

For  a  further  understanding  of  what  coercion  in  Ireland 
means,  I  commend  study  of  another  case  against  John  Fitz- 
gibbon. He  has  served  four  terms  of  imprisonment,  and 
may,  therefore,  be  taken  as  a  type  of  the  "hardened  crimi- 
nal." It  will  be  interesting  to  examine  one  of  the  recent 
crimes  which  his  Majesty's  government  thought  so  heinous 
as  to  merit  severe  penalty. 

(  For  utterances  made  at  a  public  meeting  at  Gortaganny 
on  January  12,  1902,  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  was  condemned  by 
Dublin  Castle  magistrates.  He  appealed,  on  the  ground  of 
new  evidence,  and  on  March  17  his  case  was  reviewed  by 
Judge  Morris.  With  the  utmost  indifference  to  his  own  fate 
he  simply  addressed  the  court  on  behalf  of  the  oppressed 
tenants.  For  simple,  touching  eloquence  and  unselfish  devo^ 
tion  his  speech  was  a  little  masterpiece.  A  few  paragraphs 
will  illustrate  the  stamp  of  the  man  whom  the  government 
would  make  a  felon : 

"The  case  to  be  presented  to  you,"  he  said,  "is  not  so 
much  in  my  own  behalf  as  in  behalf  of  the  tenants.  I  have 
no  desire  to*  go  to  prison  again,  as,  if  I  am  convicted,  this 
will  be  my  fourth  term  in  jail.  There  is  no  man  more 
attached  to  his  home  and  family  than  I  am.  Yet  I  do  not 
present  this  case  with  a  view  to  lessening  the  sentence  imposed 
upon  me  by  the  lower  court.  My  object  will  be  to  place 
before  your  Honor  the  true  facts  leading  up  to  the  action 
condemned." 

I  have  described  the  campaign  instituted  by  the  tenants 
of  the  de  Freyne  and  Murphy  estates.  Living  in  abject 
misery  within  sight  of  the  prosperous  tenants  on  the  Dillon 
estate,  which  was  purchased  by  the  Congested  Districts 
Board,  these  men  determined  to  agitate  for  a  reduction  in 
their  own  rents.  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  tried  to  prevent  a  general 
refusal  to  pay  rent.  He  failed,  and  then  was  in  duty  bound 
to  assist  in  the  campaign.  The  Crown  Prosecutor  charged 
that  "other  means"  should  have  been  resorted  to,  "but,"  said 
Mr.  Fitzgibbon,  "I  will  show  your  Honor  that  I  practically 


88 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


exhausted  all  other  means  before  I  took  part  in  these  radical 
measures." 

Beginning  with  1894,  when  he  made  a  personal  appeal 
to  Chief  Secretary  John  Morley,  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  described 
the  efforts  he  had  made  during  the  succeeding  years  to  aid 
the  unfortunate  tenants.  He  made  strong  recommendations 
as  a  witness  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
in  1896.  Even  as  late  as  the  summer  of  1901  he  tried  again. 
Learning  that  Chief  Secretary  Wyndham  was  on  a  secret 
visit  to  Castlerea,  the  merchant  called  on  him. 

"I  wanted  to  see,"  he  said,  "what  could  be  done  for 
these  poor  tenants  or  whether  there  was  any  hope  for  their 
cause.  I  went  to  Mr.  Wyndham  to  give  him  information 
which  I  thought  he  would  be  glad  to  receive.  His  secretary 
asked  my  name  and  business,  which  I  gave  promptly.  After 
a  few  minutes  I  was  told  Mr.  Wyndham  was  in  a  great  hurry 
and  could  not  see  me,  SO'  I  could  do  nothing  more  than  send 
him  a  copy  of  the  evidence  I  gave  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
I  never  heard  from  Mr.  Wyndham,  except  through  the  pres- 
ent proceedings  to  put  me  in  prison.  I  just  mention  this  to 
show  that  it  is  a  foolish  idea  to  think  Irishmen  need  not  go 
beyond  the  ordinary  means  of  drawing  attention  to  Irish 
grievances.  Some  agitation  similar  to  the  one  we  are 
engaged  in  at  present  on  these  estates  is  absolutely  necessary 
before  you  can  fasten  on  the  people  who  undertake  to  know 
our  business  better  than  we  do  ourselves." 

After  picturing  in  vivid  terms  the  wretched  condition  of 
the  tenants  for  whom  he  was  fighting,  the  defendant  finished 
thus : 

"If  you  see  your  way  to  confine  me  in  Sligo  jail  for 
trying  to  improve  the  condition  of  these  poor  people,  I  shall 
go  cheerfully,  because  I  believe  that  proceedings  of  this  kind 
and  the  imprisonment  of  men  who,  if  properly  treated,  would 
be  as  law-abiding  as  any  Englishmen,  will  mean  another  step 
in  solving  the  Irish  land  question." 

Now,  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  the  case  was  this: 
Mr.  Fitzgibbon  was  condemned  not  for  the  speech  of  Jan- 
uary 12,  which  was  the  only  one  mentioned  in  the  summons, 
but  for  the  reason  that  violent  speeches  were  made  at  pre- 
vious meetings  by  other  persons.    Judge  Morris  explained 


THE  WAR  ON  LIBERTY 


89 


this  remarkable  provision  of  the  coercion  laws  with  great 
unction.    He  said: 

"I  am  not  at  all  surprised  that  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  and 
Mr.  Webb  (another  defendant)  think  it  a  hardship  and 
injustice  that  previous  assemblies  of  the  same  kind  as  that  of 
January  1 2  are  taken  in  evidence  in  reference  to  the  meeting 
named.  But  that  is  the  law  and  common  sense — the  acts  and 
speeches  at  the  previous  meetings  are  admissible  as  showing 
the  character  and  application  of  the  meeting  named  in  the 
charge." 

The  judge  then  went  over  in  detail  the  records  of  meet- 
ings held  on  November  10,  November  17  and  December  29, 
1 90 1.  At  the  first  "a  very  violent  speech"  was  made  by 
Conor  O'Kelly,  M.  P.  But  mark  the  judicial  reference  to  the 
defendant : 

"On  that  occasion  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  made  a  speech — and  that  is 
the  only  evidence  I  will  admit  against  him — to  which  no  great 
exception  could  be  taken.  Keally  there  was  not  very  much  in  that 
speech.  On  November  17  he  said  the  people  were  to  keep  a  tight 
hold  of  the  money  in  their  pockets.  There  is  also  an  observation 
about  grabbers  and  talk  about  striking-  blows,  fighting  and  so  on. 
That  is  not  a  very  bad  speech.  On  December  29  Mr.  Webb  said  they 
would  light  a  fire  which  the  de  Freynes  and  Murphys  would  not 
quench.    [No  speech  by  Mr.  Fitzgibbon.] 

"Now,  if  the  meeting  of  January  12  stood  alone,  I  think  there 
would  be  very  little  to  complain  against  these  gentlemen;  but,  of 
course,  the  law  officers  of  the  Crown  know  perfectly  well  that  all 
these  antecedent  meetings  are  evidence  respecting  the  meeting  of 
January  12.  On  January  12  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  made  some  strong 
remarks  about  appeals  taken  from  me  to  the  Judge  of  Assize. 
There  was  no  very  strong  observation,  but  they  talked  about  a  fight 
and  not  minding  the  plank  bed  in  prison,  and  they  said  Lord  de 
Freyne  and  others  would  have  to  bundle  and  go.  All  these  assem- 
blies, and  what  took  place  after  them,  and  the  speeches  made  at 
them  must  be  taken,  one  and  all,  as  part  of  what  took  place  on  Jan- 
uary 12,  as  showing  the  quality  and  character  of  the  meeting."  \ 

From  these  judicial  remarks  it  is  plain  that  Mr.  Fitz- 
gibbon was  condemned,  not  for  what  he  said  himself — that 
was  trifling,  the  judge  admitted — but  for  the  speeches  of 
Conor  O'Kelly  and  others,  and  the  acts  of  meetings  held 
months  before  that  named  in  the  summons.  Judge  Morris 
continued  with  a  remarkable  denunciation  of  the  land  pur- 
chase schemes  carried  out  under  the  law.  Indeed,  he  trans- 
gressed himself  the  laws  which  he  invoked  against  the  prison- 
ers.   Furthermore,  he  said: 


9Q  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


"I  admired  Mr.  Fitzgibbon's  speech  in  court  very  much, 
and  with  a  great  deal  of  it  I  thoroughly  agree.  In  this  coun- 
try abuses  grow  up,  and  concessions,  as  a  rule,  are  extorted 
only  by  agitation.  That  has  been  the  history  of  this  country 
since  1782." 

Nevertheless,  the  defendants  had  to  suffer  for  adopting 
means  which  the  judge  confessed  were  necessary.  He  con- 
firmed the  sentence  of  the  castle  magistrates — two  months 
in  prison  and  bail  for  two  months  more. 

"Will  these  gentlemen  consent  to  find  bail?"  he  asked. 

"Oh,  no,  your  Honor,"  replied  Mr.  Fitzgibbon.  "It 
just  means  imprisonment  for  four  months." 

The  answer  illustrates  the  spirit  of  the  men  who  are 
fighting  the  battles  of  the  tenants.  By  obtaining  bail  Mr. 
Fitzgibbon  might  have  saved  himself  two  months'  imprison- 
ment. He  preferred  to  suffer  rather  than  admit,  by  giving 
bail,  that  he  had  transgressed  the  law.  Surely  this  honest 
country  merchant  is  a  type  of  the  "village  Hampden,"  whom 
it  is  folly  to  attempt  to  crush.  He  served  his  four  months  in 
prison,  but  every  day  he  spent  in  a  cell  struck  off  many  days 
from  the  time  which  stands  between  Ireland  oppressed  and 
Ireland  free. 


SPINNING. 


4 


XII 

*  WH  AT  COERCION  IS 

As  this  letter  is  written,  nearly  fifty  prominent  Irishmen 
are  in  prison  or  awaiting  trial  for  political  offenses,  and  the 
Lord  Lieutenant  only  knows  how  many  more  are  bound 
thither.  Let  the  reader  who  is  tired  of  the  dry  details  of  the 
land  question  ponder  on  this  interesting  fact  for  a  little. 
According  to  American  law,  these  men  have  committed  no 
crimes.  The  statutes  under  which  Englishmen  enjoy  liberty 
do  not  accuse  them.  They  are  stamped  criminals  because 
they  dared  to  denounce  legalized  robbery  and  agitate  for 
legal  remedy.  They  are  subjected  to  confinement,  hardship 
and  degradation  because  they  have  talked  politics,  advised 
co-operation  against  injustice  and  assailed  a  rotten  system  of 
spoliation. 

This  is  the  fruit  of  one  hundred  years  of  "union."  It 
is  not  enough  that  Ireland  should  be  governed  by  foreigners 
■ — for  such  in  truth  the  English  are  by  their  own  proud 
admission;  it  is  not  enough  that  her  people  should  have 
suffered  grievously  by  class  laws,  until  the  very  soil  cries  out 
in  agony;  but  to  this  must  be  added  a  campaign  against 
liberty,  and  into  the  wounds  of  conquest  and  injustice  must 
be  rubbed  the  salt  of  insolence  and  tyranny. 

Representative  public  men  of  Ireland  recently  visited 
America,  and  at  their  meetings  appeals  were  made  for  a 
defense  fund.  It  was  declared  that  the  British  government 
was  seeking,  through  a  system  of  "coercion,"  to>  crush  'he 
agitation  for  justice.  What  did  this  mean?  The  word  is 
simple  enough.  Our  laws  apply  coercion  every  day.  The 
thief,  the  murderer,  the  criminal  of  whatever  sort,  feels  the 
heavy  hand  of  society  upon  his  shoulder  and  hears  the  grim 
order,  "Stop!"  But  in  Ireland  who  are  coerced,  and  why 
I  append  a  list  of  some  of  the  victims  at  this  date.  Some 
are  in  prison,  others  are  awaiting  trial  or  sentence,  some  have 


*This  chapter  was  written  in  Dublin,  in  January,  1903. 

91 


92 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


been  released  after  serving  their  terms,  but  all  the  cases  arc 
actually  of  last  year,  1902  : 

WILLIAM  H.  K.  REDMOND,  M.  P.,  six  months. 
MICHAEL  REDDY,  M.  P.,  seven  months. 
WILLIAM  DUFFY,  M.  P.,  three  months. 

JOHN  ROCHE,,  M.  P.,  four  months'  hard  labor;  two  months 
added  in  default  of  bail;  and  again  summoned. 

J.  P.  FARRELL,  M.  P.,  proprietor  of  the  Longford  Leader,  five 
months'  hard  labor. 

P.  A.  McHUGH,  M.  P.,  editor  of  the  Sligo  Champion,  two 
months;  had  already  served  three  months. 

JOHN  O'DONNELL,,  M.  P.,  six  months ;  fifth  term  in  prison. 

E.  HAVILAND-BURKE,  M.  P.,  one  month  hard  labor. 

WILLIAM  LOWRY,  chairman  of  Bier  Poor  Law  Board,  five 
months. 

MICHAEL  HOG  AN,  three  months. 

M.  GLENNON,  United  Irish  League  organizer,  three  months. 
DANIEL  POWELL,  editor  of  the  Midland   Tribune,  four 
months. 

DENIS  KILBRIDE,  ex-M.  P.,  now  serving  four  months;  just 
tried  and  sentenced  to  four  months  more. 
CARROLL  NAGLE,  six  weeks. 
JAMES  LYNAM,  six  months. 
RODOLPHUS  MAHER,  two  months. 
JOSEPH  GANTLEY,  two  months. 
THOMAS  SEARSON,  six  weeks. 
JAMES  MURNANE,  five  weeks. 

J.  A.  O'SULLIVAN,  United  Irish  League  organizer,  three 
months. 

ANDREW  HOLOHAK,  six  weeks. 

T.  McCARTHY,  editor  of  the  Irish  People,  two  months. 
T.  O'DWYER,  publisher  of  the  Irish  People,  two  months. 
STEPHEN  HOLLAND,  foreman  printer  of  the  Irish  People, 
one  day. 

T.  FLANAGAN,  J.  P.,  Corofin,  tour  months'  hard  labor;  driven 
insane  by  imprisonment;  now  in  Limerick  Lunatic  Asylum. 

MARTIN  F1NNERTY,  six  months'  hard  labor. 

JOHN  LOH^N,  three  months'  hard  labor;  two  months  added 
in  default  of  bail. 

JAMES  KILMARTIN,  three  months. 

S.  P.  HARRIS,  six  months. 

DAVID  SHEEHAN,  four  months. 

B.  McTERNAN,  two  months'  hard  labor. 

M.  O'DWYER,  five  months. 

H.  LYNAM,  editor  of  the  Waterford  Star,  two  months. 
P.  J.  RAHILLY,  United  Irish  League  organizer,  summoned  for 
trial. 

J.  BUCKLEY,  proprietor  of  the  Limerick  Leader,  ten  months' 
hard  labor. 

DENIS  JOHNSTON,  served  five  months;  recently  summoned 
on  a  new  charge. 

J.  F.  O'KEEFE,  summoned. 


WHAT  COERCION  IS 


93 


P.  J.  MONAGHAN,  summoned. 
MICHAEL  GAKRICK  summoned. 
J.  G.  GUILTY,  awaiting  sentence. 
PATRICK  FITZPATEICK,  two  months'  hard  labor. 
THOMAS  LAKKIN,  two  months. 
JOHN  MITCHELL,  two  months'  hard  labor. 
MRS.  ANNE  O'MAHONY,  a  widow,  proprietor  of  the  Water- 
ford  Star,  two  months. 

Now,  what  crimes  had  these  men — and  this  widow — 
committed?  I  am  not  able,  unfortunately,  to  give  the 
charges  in  each  case,  but  I  am  assured  by  men  in  whom  I 
have  the  highest  confidence  that  not  one  of  these  persons  by 
act  or  word  transgressed  the  ordinary  laws  recognized  by  the 
courts  and  society.  They  are,  in  fact,  victims  of  a  special 
statute  passed  with  the  distinct  purpose  of  crushing  free 
speech  and  the  free  press,  the  provisions  of  the  statute  being 
enforced  by  a  system  of  summary  trial  and  conviction. 
I  have  called  it  martial  law,  and  such  it  is  in  effect,  though 
not  in  name.  The  official  title  is  "Criminal  Law  and 
Procedure  (Ireland)  Act,  1887,"  better  known  as  the 
Crimes  Act.  In  the  hands  of  the  English  administrators  it 
is  an  ingenious  instrument  of  oppression.  Technically,  it  is 
directed  against  those  who  conspire  to  compel  or  induce  any 
person  "not  to  let,  hire,  use  or  occupy  any  land,  or  not  to 
deal  with,  work  for  or  hire  any  person  or  persons  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  trade";  against  those  "who  shall  wrong- 
fully and  without  legal  authority  use  violence  or  intimida- 
tion" toward  any  person;  against  those  who  take  part  in  any 
riot  or  unlawful  assembly,  or  who  "incite  any  other  person 
to  commit  any  of  the  offenses  hereinbefore  mentioned." 

In  plain  terms,  as  will  be  seen,  the  act  is  intended  to 
discourage  boycotting,  intimidation  and  violence  against  those 
who  take  advantage  of  the  unjust  land  laws  and  assist  in 
depriving  the  people  of  their  lands.  So  far  so  good.  These 
crimes  are  abhorrent  to  every  lover  of  fair  play,  and  should 
be  punished  by  due  process  of  law.  But  in  the  last  para- 
graph quoted  the  authorities  have  a  weapon  placed  in  their 
hands  by  which  they  can  thrust  into  prison  any  person 
obnoxious  to  themselves  or  their  friends,  provided  he  is  brave 
enough  to  make  a  speech  or  write  an  article  denouncing  the 
land  system.    In  the  act  the  term  "intimidation"  is  defined 


94 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


as  including  "any  words  or  acts  intended  and  calculated  to 
put  any  person  in  fear  of  any  injury  or  danger  to  himself,  or 
to  any  member  of  his  family,  or  to  any  person  in  his  employ- 
ment, or  in  fear  of  any  injury  to  or  loss  of  property,  business, 
employment  or  means  of  living."  This  is  elastic  enough, 
surely.  But  add  the  paragraph  about  "inciting"  to  these  acts, 
and  the  law  becomes  a  sweeping  prohibition  of  ordinary 
political  discussion.  For,  it  should  be  explained,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  prove  that  any  person  has  actually  been  placed 
in  fear  of  loss  or  injury.  In  scores  of  cases  the  accused  is 
charged  with  uttering  words  "calculated  to  intimidate  persons 
unknown,"  and  scores  of  convictions  have  been  obtained 
where  it  was  not  shown  that  any  person  presumably  con- 
cerned ever  heard  of  or  read  the  expressions  referred  to. 
Hence  men  have  been  sent  to  prison  for  expressing  by  voice 
or  pen  sentiments  which  "intimidated"  persons  who  were 
quite  ignorant  of  the  utterances. 

Yet  the  amazing  substance  of  the  law  is  less  obnoxious 
to  free  institutions,  if  that  is  possible,  than  the  manner  of  its 
administration.  The  Crimes  Act,  while  always  available,  is 
put  in  force  by  proclamation.  When,  therefore,  political 
opposition  to  the  government  becomes  so  active  in  any  district 
that  the  authorities  deem  it  expedient  to  check  public  discus- 
sion, that  district  is  "proclaimed"  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant 
and  his  Privy  Council.  By  simply  writing  his  noble  name  at 
the  end  of  a  proclamation  he  imposes  upon  the  obnoxious 
district  these  conditions: 
,    Trial  by  jury  suspended. 

Armed  police  attend  every  public  meeting,  taking  notes 
of  the  speeches. 

Every  utterance  in  an  opposition  newspaper  is  subjected 
to  scrutiny,  and  every  sentence  which  can  be  construed  as 
unlawful,  under  the  astounding  terms  of  the  Crimes  Act,  is 
made  an  excuse  for  prosecution. 

The  police  furnish  the  witnesses. 

The  persons  accused  are  tried  by  two  magistrates,  who 
are  appointed,  paid  and  removable  by  Dublin  Castle. 

The  prosecutor  is  an  official  sent  to  the  scene  of  trial  by 
Dublin  Castle. 

The  castle  magistrates  have  summary  jurisdiction,  and 


WHAT  COERCION  IS 


95 


almost  invariably  condemn  the  prisoners,  the  maximum  sen- 
tence being  six  months'  hard  labor. 

I  have  said  that  this  in  effect  is  martial  law,  and  I  give 
these  facts  in  support  of  the  statement.  If  further  proof  is 
needed,  let  me  add  something  else.  The  castle  magistrates, 
through  a  grotesque  revival  of  a  long  obsolete  statute,  can 
summarily  bring  before  them  any  person  they  choose  and 
put  him  under  bonds.  An  act  passed  in  the  reign  of  Edward 
III,  at  a  "Parliament  held  at  Westminster  on  the  Sunday 
next  before  the  Feast  of  the  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,  A.  D. 
1360-61,"  is  the  instrument.  By  it  magistrates  are  empow- 
ered to  "take  and  arrest  all  those  that  they  may  find  by  indict- 
ment or  by  suspicion  and  to  put  them  in  prison,  and  to  take 
all  of  them  that  be  of  good  fame,  where  they  shall  be  found, 
sufficient  surety  and  mainprise  for  their  good  behavior  toward 
the  King  and  his  people,  and  others  duly  to  punish."  It  is 
worthy  of  casual  notice  that  the  act  originally  read,  as  here 
translated  from  the  archaic  French,  "Touz  ceux  qui  sont  de 
bone  fame."  Of  course,  it  meant  "all  those  who  are  not  of 
good  fame,"  and  the  missing  word  was  easily  supplied. 

When  a  too  free-spoken  man  is  arraigned  under  this  act 
he  cannot  defend  himself.  Judge  Gibson,  in  the  case  of  Rice 
vs.  Halpin,  February  26,  1901,  said:  "The  authorities  com- 
pel us  to  decide  that  in  the  case  of  sureties  for  good  behavior 
evidence  on  behalf  of  the  defendant  cannot  be  heard.  The 
result  is  most  unfortunate." 

If  there  were  space,  I  could  quote  a  dozen  judges  who, 
in  addressing  grand  juries  recently,  commented  upon  the 
extraordinary  absence  of  crime.  Yet  the  Lord  Lieutenant 
has  proclaimed  twenty-one  of  the  thirty-two  counties  of  Ire- 
land, including  the  city  of  Dublin,  and  in  these  twenty-one 
counties  the  Crimes  Act  form  of  martial  law  is  in  force.  A 
word  must  be  added  concerning  the  amazing  powers  of  the 
police.  The  Royal  Irish  Constabulary  is  virtually  a  body  of 
soldiers.  This  huge  force,  which  is  paid  for  by  the  Irish 
people,  is  controlled  absolutely  from  London,  through  Dublin 
Castle.  Detachments  are  quartered  in  towns  and  villages  as 
ordered  from  headquarters. 

These  military  police  have  powers  which  in  free  coun- 
tries, such  as  America  and  England,  are  vested  only  in  the 


96 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


courts  and  are  hedged  about  with  many  legal  restrictions. 
They  can  summarily  enter  any  newspaper  office  or  news-stand 
and  confiscate  such  papers  as  they  desire.  They  can,  without 
proclamation,  prohibit  any  meeting.  They  can  force  their 
way  into  any  public  gathering,  drag  the  speakers  from  the 
platform  and  disperse  the  citizens  present,  using  force  if  they 
so  desire.  In  a  word,  the  English  police  in  Ireland  can  sup- 
press free  speech  at  will.  The  people  have  only  two  means 
of  meeting  this  power :  They  can  submit  or  they  can  suffer 
imprisonment.  It  is  a  proof  of  the  courage  and  devotion  of 
the  leaders  that  many  of  them  persist  in  denouncing  injustice 
and  accept  cheerfully  the  penalties. 

I  have  tried  to  show  that  coercion  in  Ireland  is  a  system 
which  would  cause  Englishmen  to  rise  up  and  sweep  the 
government  out  of  existence.  They  would  not  submit  for  a 
single  day  to  the  tyranny  which  their  officials  inflict  upon  the 
Irish  people.  In  support  of  this  statement  I  quote  Mr.  T.  W. 
Russell,  M.  P.,  who,  as  I  have  stated,  is  a  Scotchman,  a 
Protestant  and  an  opponent  of  Home  Rule.  In  a  speech  at 
Leith,  Scotland,  he  described  the  conditions  in  the  west  of 
Ireland,  due  to  the  atrocious  land  system,  declaring  that  it 
"is  a  sin  against  God's  law — a  crime  against  humanity." 
He  continued : 

"But  if  1  said  this  in  County  Mayo  I  should  be  haled 
before  two  Crimes  Act  magistrates.  I  should  get  three 
months  with  hard  labor  for  saying  it,  and  I  should  get  three 
additional  months  if  I  failed  to  give  bail  that  I  would  not 
say  it  again.  This  is  an' absolutely  correct  description  of  the 
facts  and  of  the  law.  Gentlemen,  it  is  a  state  of  affairs  such 
as  this  which  drives  Irish-born  men  to  frenzy,  which  makes 
a  mere  Unspeakable  Scot'  like  myself  hang  his  head  in  shame 
when  he  thinks  of  what  is  called  the  government  of  Ireland." 

This  is  the  opinion  of  a  member  of  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, a  man  who  for  years  has  fought  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Union  as  against  Home  Rule.  I  shall  now  give  some 
specific  instances  showing  how  coercion  is  applied.  First  let 
me  illustrate  the  attitude  of  some  of  the  judges  toward  liti- 
gants, as  set  forth  in  official  reports.  At  Castlerea,  a  few 
weeks  ago,  Judge  O'Connor  Morris  commented  on  some 
eviction  cases  before  him.    Certain  tenants  on  the  de  Freync 


WHAT  COERCION  IS 


97 


and  Murphy  estates  had  refused  to  pay  rents  demanded. 
Their  excuse  was  that  the  rents  were  higher  than  the  yearly 
purchase  instalments  paid  by  tenants  on  the  Dillon  estate, 
which  had  been  bought  by  the  Congested  Districts  Board  and 
was  being  resold  to  the  farmers.  Their  purpose  was,  as 
explained  in  previous  letters,  to  bring  the  land  question  to  a 
focus  and  compel  the  attention  of  the  government.  This  is 
how  Judge  Morris  denounced  "land  purchase,"  admittedly 
the  only  solution  of  the  problem,  and  declared  from  the  bench 
it  would  be  worthless : 

"In  my  opinion,  these  tenants  have  a  great  and  legiti- 
mate grievance.  It  is  due  directly  to  the  act  of  the  executive 
government,  which  chose  what  is  called  the  selling  of  the 
Dillon  estate  under  a  system  absolutely  falsely  called  land 
purchase.  But  this  is  not  the  way  to  remedy  the  grievance — 
stopping  their  rents  and  robbing  the  landlords.  *  *  * 
My  opinion  is  there  will  be  no  land  conference,  and  if  there 
were,  it  would  end  in  a  battle  of  smoke.  It  would  be  abso- 
lutely worthless.  Now,  put  that  idea  out  of  your  head. 
*  *  *  This  has  reference  to  all  the  tenants  in  Ireland, 
but  particularly  the  tenants  of  this  estate.  My  strong  advice 
to  them,  poor  fools,  is  not  to  listen  to  ridiculous  talk,  but 
simply  to  go  about  their  business  and  till  their  farms  and  pay 
their  rents  like  honest  men." 

A  grand  jury  at  Mullingar,  County  Westmeath,  two 
months  ago  presented  to  Judge  Curran  a  resolution  respect- 
fully protesting  against  the  proclamation  of  the  county  under 
the  Crimes  Act.  The  following  dialogue  ensued,  as  officially 
reported : 

Judge  Curran — "This  resolution  is  altogether  outside  your 
business.  Talking  about  a  proclamation!  There  are  twenty-three 
of  you  there,  and  let  any  man  stand  forward  and  say  he  has  been 
coerced  in  any  way.  Don't  be  talking  about  coercion.  It  is  all 
hum/bug!  There  is  your  precious  resolution  for  you!"  [The  judge 
then  tore  up  the  resolution  and  threw  the  pieces  of  paper  toward 
the  grand  jury.] 

A  Juror — "Might  I  say  one  word,  your  Honor?" 

Judge  Curran — "No;  you  are  all  discharged." 

The  Juror — "You  said  in  your  charge  to  us  that  there  is  boy- 
cotting in  the  county.    Let  us  know  one  single  instance." 

Judge  Curran — "You  are  discharged  now  as  a  grand  jury,  and 
if  you  talk  in  court  I'll  send  you  to  jail." 

Here  are  two  charming  examples  of  the  judicial  tem- 

7 


9*  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


perament  as  observed  in  the  courts  which  try  Irishmen. 
And,  of  course,  these  judges  are  exempt  from  the  provisions 
of  the  Crimes  Act.  It  would  never  do  to  hint  that  Judge 
Morris  to  the  tenants  and  Judge  Curran  to  the  grand  jury 
were  guilty  of  intimidation.  For  English  comment  on  the 
latter  case  I  quote  from  the  London  Speaker: 

"It  may  be  absurd  to  expect  impartial  conduct  and 
judicial  pronouncements  from  the  Irish  county  court  judges; 
but  as  members  of  a  learned  profession  they  might,  ^at  least, 
behave  like  gentlemen." 

They  might,  indeed.  But  it  is  unfortunately  true  that 
some  officials  of  the  English  government  in  Ireland  do  not 
consider  that  in  their  relations  with  the  people  they  are  bound 
by  the  ordinary  obligations  of  courtesy  and  justice. 

There  are  many  well-meaning  folk  who  have  only  one 
reply  to  all  appeals  made  in  behalf  of  Ireland,  whether  for 
equitable  land  laws,  self-government  or  any  other  measure 
of  justice  long  denied. 

"Why  is  not  Ireland  submissive  to  the  laws  of  the 
empire?"  they  say.  "How  can  a  people  who  are  notoriously 
disloyal  properly  demand  favor  from  a  government  toward 
which  they  evince  only  insolence  and  hatred?" 

It  is  true  enough  that  Ireland  is  disloyal.  No  other 
nation  in  the  world  exhibits  such  a  terrible  picture — virtually 
a  whole  people  openly  sympathizing  with  the  armed  enemies 
of  the  established  government,  rejoicing  in  the  defeat  of  the 
imperial  arms  and  sorrowing  for  the  downfall  of  the  forces 
which  threatened  the  imperial  supremacy.  But  upon  whom 
does  this  unhappy  condition  reflect  dishonor?  No  blood  tie 
binds  the  Irish  and  the  Boers,  while  there  are  many  reasons 
for  peaceful  union  between  the  Irish  and  the  British.  Is  it 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  some  inborn  fanaticism  has  led 
them  to  turn  their  backs  upon  their  natural  allies  and  applaud 
the  victories  of  aliens?  This  disloyalty  is  abnormal.  The 
only  just  course  is  to  inquire  into  the  causes  which  underlie  it. 
It  is  possible  to  conceive  conditions  wherein  disloyalty  is  the 
only  attitude  left  for  a  self-respecting  people.  In  such  case, 
should  not  criticism  be  directed  at  the  system  which  forces 
men  into  political  rebellion  rather  than  at  the  rebels  them- 
selves ? 


WHAT  COERCION  IS 


99 


While  many  features  of  English  government  in  Ireland 
are  incitements  to  opposition,  we  are  dealing  here  particularly 
with  coercion,  that  ingenious  system  of  exasperation  which  is 
daily  widening  the  breach  between  the  races.  Coercion,  as 
shown,  is  the  suspension  of  ordinary  forms  of  law  and  the 
substitution,  under  the  cover  of  special  statutes,  of  what  is 
practically  martial  law.  This  system  is  inflicted  on  a  country 
which  is  at  peace,  and  where  the  records  of  the  courts  show 
that  crime  is  proportionately  less  than  in  England  itself. 
Does  this  appeal  to  the  fair-minded  man  as  an  incentive  to 
loyalty  ? 

The  Irish  people  to-day  are  subject  to  courts  whose 
prejudice  is  apparent,  and  they  have  been  stripped  of  every 
valuable  protection  guaranteed  by  the  English  law  to  the 
subject.  The  great  engine  of  coercion  under  the  courts  is 
the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary,  an  organized  military  garrison 
responsible  solely  to  London,  and  enforcing  their  will  upon 
the  people  by  armed  force.  The  police  are  censors  of  the 
newspapers.  The  police  have  control  over  public  meetings. 
The  police  decide  whether  any  gathering  is  lawful  or  unlaw- 
ful. The  police  note  every  public  utterance  and  declare  it 
permissible  or  not,  as  pleases  them.  The  police  make  the 
arrests,  conduct  the  prosecutions  and  furnish  the  witnesses. 
The  testimony  is  passed  upon  and  the  sentences  are  inflicted, 
without  authority  of  juries,  by  police  judges. 

But  we  have  not  quite  finished  the  tale  of  the  police 
functions,  for  sometimes  they  furnish  the  crimes,  too.  There 
are  cases  on  record  where  innocent  men  have  been  sent  to 
penal  servitude  for  crimes  committed  by  policemen  who 
sought  promotion  by  making  records  for  "efficiency."  The 
most  notorious  cases  of  this  kind  were  those  involving  Ser- 
geant Sheridan,  who  was  naturally  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  useful  officers  in  the  constabulary.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  force  for  twenty  years,  and  won  promotion  by  his 
activity  in  making  arrests  and  obtaining  convictions.  But 
justice  overtook  him  at  last,  and  even  Englishmen  were  hor- 
rified to  learn  that  in  many  cases  he  and  his  associates  had 
sworn  away  the  liberties  of  innocent  men,  charging  them 
with  crimes  committed  by  the  police. 

An  aged  tramp — a  man  who  could  hardly  walk  and  w  as 


100 


PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 


nearly  blind — was  the  unconscious  means  of  Sheridan's  undo- 
ing. The  policeman  accused  him  of  nailing  a  threatening 
notice  on  the  gate  of  a  certain  man,  and  swore  that  he  had 
seen  the  crime.  Under  cross-examination  it  was  proved  that 
it  was  physically  impossible  for  the  witness  to  have  seen  the 
act  from  the  place  he  said  he  occupied.  The  prisoner  was 
discharged.  The  incident  started  an  inquiry,  and  it  was 
proved  that  in  at  least  three  previous  cases  innocent  men  had 
suffered.  Daniel  McGoohan  was  convicted  in  Sligo  in  1897 
of  the  cowardly  crime  of  maiming  cattle.  This  trial,  by  the 
way,  illustrates  the  tactics  of  the  government  when  the  Coer- 
cion Act  is  not  operative.  A  regular  panel  of  jurors  was  sum- 
moned, but  no  fewer  than  sixty  of  them  were  ordered  to  "stand 
aside"  by  the  Crown  Prosecutor.  No  reason  was  given. 
The  government  simply  took  this  means  of  getting  a  jury  that 
would  convict.  It  did  convict,  and  McGoohan  was  sent  into 
penal  servitude  for  two  years. 

Cornelius  Bray  was  sentenced  to  three  years'  penal  servi- 
tude on  a  charge  of  burning  a  hayrick. 

Patrick  Murphy  got  six  months  at  hard  labor  on  the 
charge  of  maliciously  killing  a  donkey. 

Every  one  of  these  crimes  was  committed  by  policemen, 
who'  deliberately  swore  away  the  liberties  of  innocent  men. 
The  government  was  forced  to  act.  McGoohan  was  released, 
and  received  $500  as  compensation  for  his  sufferings.  Bray 
was  freed,  but  soon  died,  and  his  mother  receives  a  pension  of 
$2.50  a  week.  Murphy  was  restored  to  his  family  and 
accepted  $125  damages. 

The  same  police  force  is  as  active  to-day  in  suppressing 
free  speech,  gagging  the  press  and  swearing  men  into  prison 
on  charges  of  "intimidation"  in  political  speeches.  Does  the 
record  contain  much  to  make  loyalty  an  obligation  on  the 
Irish  people?  These  are  the  tactics  which  T.  W.  Russell  has 
said  "drive  Irishmen  to  frenzy"  and  make  loyalists  like  him 
hide  their  heads  in  shame. 

But  the  injustice  is  not  always  so  serious.  The  stupidity 
of  some  of  the  governing  class  leads  them  into  acts  which 
cannot  accomplish  any  good  to  any  one,  and  seem  designed 
only  to  exasperate  needlessly  the  citizens  of  the  country.  I 
came  across  such  a  case  when  visiting  the  County  Mayo  court 


WHAT  COERCION  IS 


101 


house  at  Castlebar  recently.  The  County  Council  announced 
a  meeting  of  the  body  to  transact  regular  business.  Inci- 
dentally, it  was  proposed  to  present  to  William  O'Brien 
addresses  of  commendation.  Now,  the  court  house  was  built, 
of  course,  and  is  maintained  by  the  public  funds,  and  the 
members  of  the  County  Council  are  elected  by  the  people  who 
pay  the  taxes.  Under  the  circumstances,  it  would  seem  that 
the  Council  might  transact  any  lawful  business  in  their  cham- 
ber. But  under  an  old  statute,  which  was  incorporated  in  the 
Local  Government  Act,  the  actual  custody  of  the  court  house 
is  vested  in  the  High  Sheriff  of  the  county.  This  official  in 
Mayo  is  SherirT  Bingham,  a  son  of  Lord  Lucan,  one  of  the 
great  landlords.  From  him  the  secretary  received  the  fol- 
lowing remarkable  letter: 

"July  30,  1902. 

"Sir:  I  see  by  the  papers  that  a  meeting  of  the  Mayo  County 
Council  is  to  be  held  in  the  court  house  at  Castlebar  on  Saturday, 
August  2,  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  an  address  to  Mr.  William 
O'Brien,  M.  P.  As  from  information  I  have  received,  I  have  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  this  meeting  will  partake  of  the  nature  of  a 
political  demonstration,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  write  and  inform  you 
that  such  would  be  an  improper  and  illegal  use  of  the  court  house. 

"Being,  as  High  Sheriff,  responsible  for  the  custody  and  con- 
trol of  the  building,  I  write,  therefore,  to  give  you  notice  that  I  am 
unable  to  permit  its  use  for  any  such  purpose.   I  remain, 

"Yours  faithfully. 

"BINGHAM,  High  Sheriff." 

On  the  day  announced  for  the  meeting,  sixty  policemen, 
carrying  rifles,  took  possession  of  the  chamber  of  the  duly 
elected  County  Council.  This  armed  force  prevented  the 
meeting  of  the  people's  representatives  in  the  building  sup- 
ported by  their  taxes. 

Yet  the  police  cannot  always  be  accused  of  activity. 
When  I  first  called  upon  T.  W.  Russell,  M.  P.,  in  Dublin, 
he  was  under  the  care  of  a  doctor,  having  been  assaulted  by 
an  Anti-Home  Rule  mob  in  Dromore,  County  Down, 
although  he  is  an  Anti-Home  Ruler  himself.  The  story  of 
his  adventure  will  illustrate  how  the  police,  so  vigilant  in 
suppressing  the  liberties  of  the  people,  deal  with  real  crime. 

Mr.  Russell  addressed  a  meeting  of  Ulster  farmers  on 
November  19  regarding  the  land  problem.  Information 
reached  him  in  advance  that  men  had  been  hired  to  break  up 
the  gathering,  and  he  requested  the  aid  of  the  police  in  pre- 


ioz  PROBLEM  OF  THE  LAND 

serving  order.  No  attention  was  paid  to  this.  The  meeting 
began  early  in  the  evening.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Russell  rose  to 
speak  gangs  of  rowdies  surrounded  the  building,  making 
deafening  noises  with  drums.  Nevertheless,  the  meeting  was 
continued  to  the  end.  When  Mr.  Russell  and  his  friends  left 
the  hall  they  found  the  street  filled  with  a  rioting  mob. 
They  took  refuge  in  a  store,  but  rather  than  expose  the  shop- 
keeper to  violence  they  left  a  few  moments  later.  Mr.  Rus- 
sell was  lifted  into  a  wagon,  and  the  driver  tried  to  force  his 
way  through  the  mob.  Stones  and  bricks  showered  upon 
them,  and  Mr.  Russell  was  knocked  senseless.  There  were  a 
score  of  policemen  within  sight  of  the  disturbance,  but  only 
one  of  them  made  any  attempt  to  protect  the  assaulted  men. 

It  is  indeed  a  pity  that  the  Irish  people  are  not  loyal  and 
do  not  subscribe  with  enthusiasm  to  English  rule.  But  some 
explanation  of  their  attitude  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
about  the  only  visible  representatives  of  government  in  the 
country  are  courts  which  throttle  liberty  and  a  police  force 
which  is  used  as  an  instrument  of  the  most  vindictive  oppres- 
sion. 


THE   LAND  PROBLEM 


SOLVED 

XIII 

*  A  FTE  R  SEVEN  YEARS 

Seven  years  ago  the  Philadelphia  North  American  sent 
a  correspondent  to  Ireland  to  report  upon  the  social,  indus- 
trial and  political  conditions  which  at  that  time  made  the 
century-old  "Irish  question"  an  acute  problem.  To  investi- 
gate the  matter  at  close  range — first  for  the  benefit  of  the 
people  of  Ireland  and  their  kin  in  America,  but  more  particu- 
larly for  the  enlightenment  of  the  American  public  as  a  whole 
- — the  newspaper  sent  a  reporter  to  the  scene.  For  more  than 
a  month  the  writer  traveled  in  Ireland.  He  visited  cities, 
towns,  villages  and  hamlets,  and  penetrated  into  the  sparsely 
settled  country  districts.  He  interviewed  priests  and  peas- 
ants, business  men,  politicians,  artisans.  He  talked  with  mer- 
chants behind  the  counter,  farmers  in  the  furrow,  women  at 
the  spinning  wheel,  laborers  on  the  roadside.  He  was  in 
stores  and  churches,  in  homes  of  plenty  and  abodes  of  want. 
He  saw  that  amazing  problem  of  the  land,  the  Nemesis  of 
statesmen,  the  scourge  of  a  people,  unroll  before  him  as  he 
traversed  the  green  but  desolated  island.  He  found  patriot- 
ism a  crime,  free  speech  a  prison  offense.  He  saw  members  of 
Parliament  in  jail,  and  talked  to  respected  merchants  whose 

*This  chapter  was  written  in  Dublin  in  July,  1909. 

103 


io4         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


hands  were  scarred  with  the  degrading  labor  of  the  prison 
yard.  He  traveled  over  scores  of  miles  of  fertile  land  which 
knew  no  life  except  scattered  herds  of  rough  Irish  cattle  and 
their  silent  keepers,  and  within  an  hour  of  such  scenes  found 
crowded  humanity  living  on  stony  hillsides,  slaving,  suffering, 
slowly  dying. 

It  was  a  ghastly  picture — not,  of  course,  typical  of  Ire- 
land as  a  whole,  but  typical  of  a  great  part  of  the  land. 
There  were  huge  tracts  of  the  country  where  peace  and  plenty 
have  shed  their  blessings  for  many  years,  and  where,  as  a 
result,  despairing  revolt  and  savage  reprisal  were  hardly 
known.  But  the  extent  of  the  injustice  was  vast.  Not  thou- 
sands, but  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons  existed  amid 
surroundings  of  unexampled  misery,  always  struggling, 
always  under  the  edge  of  the  shadow  of  starvation.  And  all 
through  no  fault  of  their  own.  As  the  letters  and  photo- 
graphs published  seven  years  ago  made  plain,  these  people 
Avere  victims  of  a  system  of  oppression  and  economic  slavery. 
The  articles  cited  the  testimony  not  alone  of  Irishmen,  but  of 
English  statesmen,  who  declared  that  the  misrule  of  Ireland, 
particularly  in  regard  to  its  atrocious  land  system,  was  alone 
responsible  for  the  misery  of  a  people  naturally  thrifty,  intel- 
ligent and  peace-loving.  After  completing  a  tour  of  the  dis- 
tricts where  injustice  and  its  evil  results  were  most  apparent, 
and  after  having  studied  conditions  and  their  causes  at  first 
hand,  the  writer  summed  up  as  follows  the  state  of  affairs  in 
Ireland  in  1902  : 

Political — Widespread  hatred  and  distrust  of  England. 
Peace  insured  by  an  armed  garrison.  A  police  force,  paid  by 
the  people  of  Ireland,  but  controlled  absolutely  from  London, 
scattered  over  the  whole  island,  with  judicial  as  well  as  ad- 
ministrative powers.  "Coercion"  enforced  in  twenty-one  of 
the  thirty-two  counties,  whereby  free  speech  is  suppressed, 
trial  by  jury  suspended  and  public  discussion,  if  displeasing 
to  officials,  results  in  arbitrary  imprisonment.  In  the  British 
Parliament  the  balance  of  power  held  by  the  Irish  mem- 
bers, who  are  united  in  a  determination  to  obstruct  the 
government  at  every  turn.  In  Ireland  the  United  Irish 
League  spreading  its  organization  everywhere,  its  plat- 
form embracing  the  abolition  of  landlordism  through  the 
compulsory  sale  of  lands  and,  ultimately,  the  establishment 
of  national  self-government. 

Economic — The  nation  is  dying  by  inches.  Every  year 
the  population  grows  less.   In  1800  it  was  4,000,000,  in  1847 


AFTER  SEVEN  YEARS  105 

nearly  9,000,000;  now  it  is  4,456,000.  Emigration  is  cease- 
less. The  young  and  vigorous  of  the  race  are  fleeing  from 
the  island  as  if  there  were  a  blight.  In  the  last  fifty  years 
3,850,000  have  fled  from  the  land  of  their  birth.  Nowhere, 
save  in  a  few  restricted  farming  and  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts, is  there  a  condition  worthy  to  be  called  prosperity. 
Agriculture  is  the  employment  of  eight-tenths  of  the  popu- 
lation, and  for  hundreds  of  thousands  of  these  agriculture 
spells  destitution.  Most  of  these  exist  only  through  con- 
tributions from  relatives  in  America  and  England.  In 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  families  the  men  and  boys 
must  spend  six  months  of  the  year  in  England  in  order  to 
earn  enough  money  to  carry  the  families  through  the  win- 
ter. In  a  word,  the  Irish  in  Ireland — the  countless  victims 
of  the  system  at  least — are  kept  alive  by  the  Irish  who  have 
been  driven  to  other  lands. 

This  recital  of  conditions  was  based  upon  personal 
investigation  and  observation,  and  it  was  proved  by  official 
reports  and  statistics.  The  causes  were  treated  as  exhaust- 
ively as  the  limitations  of  newspaper  articles  would  permit. 
It  was  shown  that  conquest  and  confiscation  had  been  merci- 
lessly invoked  against  the  Irish  people  until  they,  the  natural 
and  just  owners  of  the  land,  had  been  reduced  to  economic 
serfdom,  dependent  virtually  upon  the  charity  of  their  mas- 
ters, and  usually  certain  to  find  it  wanting.  From  historical 
documents  it  was  made  clear  that  the  land  was  taken  by  force 
from  the  people  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries 
and  conferred  upon  adventurers  and  titled  favorites  of  the 
sovereigns.  The  means  used  were  confiscation,  colonization, 
seizure  in  time  of  war  and  as  reprisal  by  the  victors  and, 
finally,  penal  laws,  which  upon  religious  grounds  stripped 
most  of  the  inhabitants  of  nearly  every  right  enjoyed  by  citi- 
zens under  free  government.  Out  of  these  unnatural  methods 
of  acquiring  land  grew  the  monstrous  evil  of  absentee  land- 
lordism, and  this  in  turn  bred  new  injustices.  The  very 
severity  of  the  laws  that  were  brought  into  operation  against 
the  Irish  so  hampered  the  owners  living  in  England  that  they 
sublet  their  Irish  estates  to  middlemen,  who  ground  down  the 
hapless  peasantry  at  will. 

An  important  explanation  then  made — one  that  is  vital 
to  an  understanding  of  the  problem — was  the  radical  differ- 
ence between  landlordism  in  Ireland  and  landlordism  in  Eng- 
land. (See  Chapter  III  J  In  these  conditions  were  to  be 
found  the  cause  of  the  wretched  land  wars,  of  the  lon<?\ 


io6         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


bitter  campaign  against  landlordism,  with  its  record  of  blood 
and  misery.  In  1870  came  the  first  ray  of  light  in  the  dark 
record,  when  Gladstone  established  the  main  principle  of 
dual  ownership — that  the  tenant's  industry  created  for  him  a 
certain  proprietary  interest  in  the  land  he  tilled.  The  first 
legislation — like  all  that  has  followed  it — was  imperfect. 
The  savage  land  war  of  1879-80  showed  how  much  of 
mediaeval  injustice  still  persisted.  But  the  barriers  were 
crumbling.  Land  purchase  acts  followed,  the  most  notable 
being  in  1881  and  1903,  and  with  these  the  death-knell  of 
Irish  landlordism  was  sounded.  The  British  government  is 
now  engaged,  upon  a  huge  scale,  in  buying  the  great  estates 
and  establishing  the  tenants  upon  small  farms.  The  new 
terms,  though  in  some  cases  too  high,  are  infinitely  more 
advantageous  than  the  old.  Tenants  who  paid  $50  a  year 
rent,  with  no  hope  in  the  future  and  the  certainty  of  an 
increased  demand,  now  occupy  the  same  ground  as  owners, 
paying  the  purchase  price  and  interest  at  the  rate  of  $30  to 
$35  a  year. 

Seven  years  ago  it  was  predicted  that  a  change  was  in 
sight.  The  change  came,  and  progress  has  been  steady  ever 
since.  Again  the  writer  has  visited  Ireland  to  see  for  himself 
how  the  people  are  living  and  what  measure  of  justice  they 
have  won.  Let  it  be  said  at  once  that  the  change  is  nothing 
short  of  marvelous.  It  was  a  dark  picture  seven  years  ago, 
but  that  picture  is  fading.  Seven  years  is  a  brief  span  in  the 
life  of  a  nation,  and  this  generation  will  not  see  the  last  of 
injustice.  But  the  reformation  has  begun.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  of  families  which  were  suffering  want  are  now  con- 
tented and  near  to  prosperity.  Many  evils  have  been  wiped 
out  and  others  are  marked  to  go.  In  the  succeeding  articles 
we  are  to  see  a  new  Ireland — a  nation  once  more  on  the 
upgrade. 

The  prediction  made  in  1902  that  the  government 
would  be  compelled  to  take  drastic  action  was  soon  verified. 
Within  a  year  the  Wyndham  Land  Purchase  Act  was  passed, 
increasing  the  powers  of  bodies  engaged  in  undoing  the 
wrongs  of  centuries,  and  for  seven  years  these  wise  reforms 
have  been  in  operation.  What  they  have  accomplished  it  is 
the  purpose  of  the  present  investigation  to  set  forth. 


AFTER  SEVEN  YEARS 


107 


To  the  student  of  history — and,  indeed,  to  anyone  who 
has  the  faintest  interest  in  human  progress — the  story  of  Ire- 
land must  be  fascinating.  Americans  particularly  should  find 
it  attractive,  not  only  because  so  large  a  proportion  of  them 
have  Irish  blood,  but  because  Ireland  still  suffers  many 
of  the  disabilities  against  which  the  American  colonies 
revolted  in  1775.  Ireland's  afflictions  under  misrule  and 
the  still  surviving  system  of  bad  government  will  be  discussed 
later.  These  earlier  letters  are  to  deal  chiefly  with  the 
reforms  in  the  grotesque  land  system  and  the  amazingchanges 
for  the  better  which  have  been  wrought  in  the  short  period 
of  seven  years.  The  testimony,  in  the  main,  will  be  the 
writer's  personal  observation,  for  he  will  visit  the  same 
places  he  inspected  before.  But  already  there  is  evidence 
from  a  competent  witness — a  man  whose  inflexible  opposi- 
tion to  English  government  of  Ireland  during  his  whole  life 
gives  weight  to  his  declaration — that  the  country  has  been 
lifted  from  despair  to  hope.  This  is  John  Dillon,  member 
of  Parliament,  scholar,  historian  and  agitator,  one  of  the 
ablest  of  the  leaders  during  a  stormy  generation. 

Mr.  Dillon  lives  in  one  of  those  tall,  grim,  smoke- 
blackened  houses  which  give  to  Dublin's  old  streets  an 
appearance  of  ancient  grandeur.  More  than  a  hundred 
years  ago  the  house  was  occupied  by  a  member  of  the  Irish 
Parliament,  the  short-lived  legislative  assemblage  which 
proved  the  justice  of  Home  Rule  but  was  extinguished  by  the 
infamously  passed  Act  of  Union  in  1800.  Many  other 
houses  in  this  street  sheltered  members  of  that  body,  and 
during  the  sessions  the  neighborhood  was  brilliant.  Now 
the  glory  has  departed  and  the  mansions  have  settled  into  a 
decorous  quietude. 

There  was  nothing  to  suggest  the  agitator,  the  bitter 
and  ruthless  foe  of  British  misgovernment,  in  the  figure 
which  greeted  me  in  the  dim-lit  library  of  the  old  house. 
Nothing  more  unlike  a  militant  campaigner  could  be  imag- 
ined than  the  tall,  thin,  studious-looking  man  who  rose  up 
among  his  books  and  extended  the  courteous  welcome  of  the 
well-bred  Irishman.  The  whole  appearance  of  the  man  is 
one  of  scholarly  refinement.  He  seems  to  be  infinitely  more 
at  home  in  his  deep  armchair  than  he  would  be  in  the  heat  of 


io8         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


political  strife;  yet  he  is  one  of  the  most  effective,  as  he  has 
been  one  of  the  most  fiery  and  uncompromising,  of  the  Irish 
orators  and  leaders.  The  book-lined  walls  and  the  tables, 
littered  with  odd  volumes  and  papers,  make  appropriate  sur- 
roundings for  his  studious,  somewhat  weary-looking  figure. 
His  words  are  those  of  the  scholar  and  suggest  nothing  of 
his  stormy  career.  When  I  told  him  I  had  come  to  Ireland 
to  learn  what  progress  had  been  made  since  my  former  visit 
he  expressed  satisfaction. 

"I  am  very  glad,  indeed,"  he  said.  "America  has  heard 
much  of  Irish  suffering  and  has  given  us  such  splendid  sup- 
port that  it  is  gratifying  that  you  can  take  back  a  report  of 
much  good  accomplished  and  much  more  to  be  achieved 
presently.  You  could  not  have  come  at  a  more  significant 
time.  The  improvement  since  you  were  here  last  has  been 
simply  enormous.  I  can  say,  in  all  seriousness,  that  Ireland 
has  made  more  progress  in  the  last  ten  years  than  during  the 
previous  two  hundred  years." 

"That  is  a  strong  statement,"  was  suggested. 
"But  quite  true,"  answered  Mr.  Dillon,  calmly.  UI 
need  hardly  remind  you  that  the  wretched  land  system  was 
responsible  for  most  of  the  misery  which  the  poor  suffered. 
Successive  land  purchase  acts  are  gradually  restoring  the 
worse  than  homeless  tenants  to  the  land,  and  each  family  so 
restored  becomes  decently  prosperous,  because,  for  the  first 
time,  there  is  offered  a  chance  to  make  a  living.  But  I  do 
not  refer  to  this  broad  reform  alone — to  the  mere  fact  that 
the  helpless,  hopeless  tenants  and  the  evicted  families  are 
being  made  independent.  I  refer  to  the  spirit  of  the  people. 
The  whole  face  of  the  land  is  changing,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
people  with  it.  The  thousands  who  have  been  put  in  the 
way  of  making  decent  farms  and  homes  have  become  hope- 
ful and  self-reliant  instead  of  despairing.  The  wretched 
habitations  you  described  seven  years  ago  are  disappearing, 
and  in  their  places  you  will  find  trim,  comfortable  cottages. 
Those  families  who  were  struggling  against  starvation  on  the 
rocky  hillsides  are  now  cultivating  fertile  fields.  This  has 
had  its  moral  as  well  as  its  material  benefits.  With  increased 
opportunity  and  independence  have  sprung  up,  naturally, 
aspirations  for  better  living.    The  farm  animals,  which, 


AFTER  SEVEN  YEARS 


among  the  very  poor,  used  to  be  kept  in  one  end  of  the  house, 
are  now  properly  housed  some  distance  away  from  the  home. 
Dooryards  are  cleaned  up  and  the  heaps  of  refuse  that  used 
to  disfigure  them  are  swept  away.  Stagnant  pools  are 
drained,  roads  and  fences  mended,  and  everywhere  are  seen 
the  marks  of  industry  and  a  desire  for  comfort  and  cleanli- 
ness. All  these  good  results  have  followed  from  the  simple 
change  from  tenant  slavery  to  free  ownership. 

"There  has  been  an  aesthetic  stimulus,  too,  which  is 
hardly  less  important,  I  think,  than  the  material  regeneration 
from  which  it  results.  You  who  have  seen  prosperous  farms 
do  not  need  to  be  told  how  passionate  is  the  Irish  love  of 
flowers.  The  little  patch  of  garden  in  the  dooryard  and  the 
climbing  roses  that  often  hide  the  porches  are  perfectly 
natural  to  the  Irish  country  folk.  Now  you  will  see  these 
evidences  of  contentment  and  of  love  for  the  beautiful  on 
every  hand.  Families  which  a  few  years  ago  were  so  steeped 
in  despair  that  they  lived  amid  the  most  sordid  surroundings 
now  are  not  content  to  make  a  living — they  must  have  a 
garden  of  flowers  as  well.  Even  commonplace  incidents 
show  the  uplift  which  has  come  from  opportunity.  In  many 
districts  the  outhouses  are  roofed  with  corrugated  iron — a 
serviceable  but  not  very  picturesque  material.  One  day  a 
friend  of  mine  suggested  to  a  farmer  that  a  coat  of  red  paint 
would  improve  the  appearance  of  the  barn.  The  hint  was 
taken,  and  the  change  added  so  much  to  the  picturesqueness 
of  the  place  that  the  idea  spread.  Now  hundreds  of  the 
unsightly  roofs  have  been  painted  a  warm  red,  adding  a 
touch  of  homelikeness  to  many  a  neighborhood." 

I  suggested  that  another  improvement  would  be  a  varia- 
tion here  and  there  in  the  architecture  of  the  houses  which 
the  government  is  building.  The  structures  are  warm  and 
comfortable,  but  they  are  of  the  most  austere  plainness  of 
design  and  of  a  deadly  monotony  in  plan. 

"I  advocated  the  use  of  dark-red  tiling  for  the  roofs,1' 
said  Mr.  Dillon,  "but  that  would  cost  $20  or  $25  more  for 
each  house;  so  slate  is  used.  The  main  thing,  of  course,  is 
to  house  the  people  at  all;  but  it  is  a  pity  that  in  paying  its 
long-overdue  debt  civilization  should  crush  out  the  artistic 
spirit  in  those  whom  it  benefits." 


no         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

"And  what  has  been  the  effect  of  all  this  economic 
improvement,"  I  asked,  "upon  the  Home  Rule  question?  It 
was  my  prediction  seven  years  ago  that  the  restoration  of  the 
people  to  the  land  would  make  self-government  inevitable — 
would,  in  fact,  hasten  it.  Is  this  the  fact,  or  has  the  redress- 
ing of  the  land  wrongs  obscured  the  political  issue?" 

"The  Home  Rule  sentiment  is  'stronger  than  ever," 
answered  Mr.  Dillon.  "It  is  increasing  steadily.  I  do  not 
mean  to  convey  that  it  is  a  burning  issue  at  this  moment. 
During  the  land  wars  it  was  constantly  at  the  front.  It  was 
the  theme  of  every  meeting  and  the  inspiration  of  every  little 
revolt.  But  the  country  then  was  really  in  a  state  of  civil 
war.  The  Irish  people  were  unarmed,  but  they  were  in  con- 
stant rebellion,  and  the  clashes  between  them  and  the  military 
and  police  were  in  behalf  of  their  right  of  self-government, 
just  as  much  as'  the  battles  in  the  American  Avar  for  inde- 
pendence. The  country  is  now  at  peace,  awaiting  the  out- 
come of  promised  reforms.  The  physical  conflicts  are  few. 
But  none  the  less  the  Home  Rule  sentiment  is  growing  every 
day,  and  it  will  not  be  denied. 

"A  very  subtle  campaign  against  itwas  carried  on  some 
years  ago  by  Sir  Horace  Plunkett  when  head  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture.  He  went  to*  the  people  with  the  plea 
that  they  drop  politics — that  everybody  should  'get  together' 
and  build  up  the  country  agriculturally  and  industrially.  It 
was  a  very  plausible  program  on  the  surface,  but  unfortu- 
nately to  have  'no  politics'  in  Ireland  is  to  be  anti-Nationalist. 
It  was  perfectly  absurd  to  talk  about  men  leaving  politics 
aside,  for  tx>  do  so  is  to  drop  the  Nationalist  idea.  There  is 
no  question  that  this  propaganda  influenced  a  good  many 
persons.  Plunkett  established  creameries  and  gave  other 
assistance  in  developing  farm  resources,  and  he  had,  for  a 
time,  the  very  effective  argument  of  large  patronage  in  the 
department  he  ruled.  But  when  he  openly  attacked  one  of 
our  parliamentary  seats  and  captured  it  for  a  Unionist  his 
pretense  of  non-partisanship  was  exploded.  His  propaganda 
has  collapsed,  and  Home  Rule  is  still  the  living  issue.  He 
used  to  boast  that  he  would  kill  Home  Rule  with  kindness. 
It  was  rather  a  clever  phrase,  and  he  did  make  some  head- 
way with  the  thoughtless.    But,  of  course,  the  idea  is  pre- 


AFTER  SEVEN  YEARS  rn 


posterous.  The  present  system  of  government,  cumbersome, 
costly  and  reeking  with  intolerable  injustice,  must  be  swept 
away.  Ameliorating  reforms  are  good  only  to  a  certain 
extent;  it  is  worse  than  futile  to  try  to  cure  an  ulcer  by  paint- 
ing it.  We  cannot  build  up  a  stable  and  just  government 
upon  a  morass  of  misrule.  No  matter  how  fair  the  structure 
may  be,  it  will  collapse.  Home  Rule  alone  will  make  this 
people  prosperous  and  contented,  and  anyone  with  an  atom 
of  sense  knows  it." 

Before  attempting  to  show  the  great  advancement  made 
in  solving  the  Irish  land  problem  during  the  last  seven  years 
it  is  necessary  to  describe  briefly  what  the  problem  is  and 
review  the  efforts  made  to  settle  it.  Bound  up  as  it  is  indis- 
solubly  with  the  fortunes — and  misfortunes — of  the  Irish 
people,  it  has  been  kept  insistently  before  the  British  govern- 
ment for  many  years,  and  the  mass  of  legislation  upon  it 
demonstrates  not  only  the  vigorous  activity  of  the  Irish 
leaders,  but  a  realization  on  the  part  of  England  that  a  great 
evil  cries  for  remedy.  That  the  successive  statutes  and  their 
clustering  amendments  still  have  not  removed  all  of  the 
hoary  injustices  is  in  itself  evidence  that  nothing  short  of 
self-government  will  meet  Ireland's  manifold  demands. 

I  have  reviewed  very  briefly  the  bases  of  this  unique 
land  problem,  showing  how  the  seeds  of  interminable  wrong 
were  sown  when  the  land  was  grabbed  in  successive  invasions, 
and  how  the  crop  was  matured  under  the  grotesque  laws 
which  made  the  landlords  virtual  owners  of  the  tenants  as 
well  as  of  the  lands  they  tilled.  This  was  through  the  custom 
which  empowered  the  landlord  to  raise  rents  as  fast  as  the 
tenant  improved  his  farm.  With  the  threat  of  eviction 
always  before  him,  the  hapless  tenant  had  to  pay.  When 
he  could  no  longer  meet  the  demands  he  was  thrown  out  and 
all  his  labor  of  years  legally  confiscated  by  the  absentee 
owner.  This  general  rule,  responsible  for  untold  misery, 
was  brought  into  infinitely  wider  operation  through  the  ter- 
rific famine  of  1847.  That  catastrophe  spread  a  blight  of 
poverty  over  the  nation,  and  in  addition  drove  countless  land- 
lords into  bankruptcy.  Thereupon,  in  an  effort  to  do  some- 
thing to  lift  the  burden  of  misery,  Parliament  established  a 


ii2         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


court  empowered  to  sell  hopelessly  incumbered  estates.  The 
hope  was  that  with  a  fresh  start  all  around  the  problem 
might  solve  itself;  but,  of  course,  while  the  tenant  remained 
without  title  to  any  part  of  the  improvements  he  had  made, 
and  with  no  protection  against  capricious  eviction,  he  was 
only  exchanging  masters,  and  in  most  cases  exchanging  them 
for  the  worse.  There  was  a  rush  of  creditors  to  the  new 
court,  the  bankrupt  estates  were  bought  wholesale  by  specu- 
lators and  rents  were  raised  higher  than  before.  Evictions 
by  wholesale  ensued.  All  Ireland  was  a  place  of  misery  and 
mourning.  Finding  rent  collections  impossible,  the  new  land- 
lords were  seized  with  a  mania  for  making  large  grazing 
farms,  and  the  helpless  tenants  were  swept  of:  the  land  as 
ruthlessly  as  if  they  had  been  noxious  animals.  In  1849  and 
succeeding  years,  when  an  eviction  was  virtually  a  sentence 
of  starvation,  populous  districts  as  large  as  small  counties 
were  turned  into  empty  plains.  Houses  were  razed,  fences 
leveled  and  the  little  farms  consolidated  in  huge  ranches.  It 
was  at  this  period  that  the  London  Times,  never  noted  for 
sympathy  with  Ireland's  woes,  confessed  that  uthe  name  of 
an  Irish  landlord  stinks  in  the  nostrils  of  Christendom."  In 
the  ten  years  following  the  famine  300,000  families  were 
thrust  out  of  their  homes  and  1,500,000  victims  of  tyranny 
and  spoiling  fled  from  Ireland  to  America.  This  was  the 
high  tide  in  the  wave  of  emigration,  but  to  this  day  the  flow 
has  never  ceased. 

As  early  as  1845  tne  Devon  Commission  had  recom- 
mended the  correcting  of  the  glaring  injustice  which  denied 
to  the  tenant  any  interest  in  the  farm  he  created  from  the 
bare  land.  But  it  was  not  until  1870  that  the  principle  was 
established.  Even  then  the  remedy  was  ineffective.  The 
law  simply  made  the  landlord  pay  for  improvements  when 
he  evicted  a  tenant,  and  he  could  recoup  himself  by  raising 
the  rent  to  the  next  incumbent.  Out  of  this  grew  the  famous 
demand  for  uthe  three  F's" — fair  rent,  free  sale  and  fixity 
of  tenure — which  were  finally  won  after  the  savage  land  war 
of  1879,  m  tne  Act  of  1 88 1.  It  not  only  established  finally 
and  irrevocably  the  principle  of  tenant  partnership  right, 
but  created  a  court  which  fixed  the  rents  to  be  paid  during 
periods  of  fifteen  years.    How  much  of  downright  robbery 


AFTER  SEVEN  YEARS  113 


there  was  under  the  old  system  may  be  deduced  from  the 
fact  that  in  the  first  readjustment  the  court  reduced  rents 
twenty  per  cent.,  taking  an  annual  burden  of  $7,500,000 
from  the  shoulders  of  the  people.  But  for  more  than  a 
generation  prior  to  this  great  victory  the  only  permanent 
solution  of  the  desperate  problem  had  been  under  desultory 
discussion  from  time  to  time.  In  1847  L°rd  John  Russell 
advocated  the  proposal  of  John  Stuart  Mill  for  making  the 
peasants  proprietors  of  the  lands  they  tilled.  More  than 
twenty  years  later,  in  1870,  a  timid  move  was  made  in  the 
direction  of  assisting  the  tenants  to  purchase  their  farms. 
Parnell  in  1878  made  a  fight  for  the  idea,  and  the  Act  of 
1 88 1  marked  a  certain  small  advance. 

But  the  Ashbourne  Act  of  1885  was  the  first  real  recog- 
nition and  adoption  of  what  is  known  as  Land  Purchase. 
This  act  provided  for  the  advancing  by  the  state  of  the  entire 
sum  necessary  to  purchase  lands,  the  tenants  repaying  it  in 
forty-nine  annual  instalments  of  four  per  cent.  Of  this, 
three  and  one-eighth  per  cent,  was  interest  and  seven-eighths 
per  cent,  went  to  the  sinking  fund  for  liquidation  of  the  loan. 
More  than  25,000  tenants  were  able  to  take  advantage  of 
the  plan  under  that  act  and  an  amending  act  of  1888.  The 
principle  had  been  established,  and  since  1885  has  been 
broadened  and  its  application  made  more  practical.  In  1886 
Gladstone  offered  to  the  Irish  landlords  terms  of  purchase 
somewhat  similar  to  those  of  the  Ashbourne  Act;  but  the 
plan  fell  with  his  Home  Rule  bill,  to  which  it  was  attached. 

The  next  important  move  was  in  1891,  when  Premier 
Balfour  authorized  the  appropriation  of  $150,000,000  to 
extend  the  operation  of  the  Ashbourne  Act,  under  which 
expenditure  had  been  limited  to  $50,000,000.  All  of  the 
purchase  money  was  to  be  advanced  to  the  tenants  by  the 
state,  through  the  issue  of  guaranteed  land  stock  bearing 
dividends  of  two  and  three-fourths  per  cent.,  repayment 
being  made  by  an  annuity  at  the  rate  of  four  per  cent.,  pay- 
able in  half-yearly  instalments  for  a  period  of  forty-nine 
years.  Under  this  act  no  fewer  than  30,000  tenants  became 
owners  of  their  farms — 5000  more  than  had  been  able  to 
take  advantage  of  all  the  preceding  acts.  In  1896  another 
great  step  forward  was  made.  The  Land  Act  of  that  year 
8 


ii4        THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

asserted  the  principle  of  compulsory  sale  of  bankrupt  estates 
and  lengthened  the  term  of  repayment  to  sixty-eight  years, 
the  payments  being  reduced  at  the  end  of  each  period  of 
ten  years.  This  was  the  act  in  operation  in  1902,  when  the 
writer  visited  Ireland.  About  47,000  farm  holdings  had 
been  transferred  under  it  and  the  Act  of  1891,  but  there 
were  still  many  defects.  The  hardships  of  the  great  mass 
of  tenants  led  to  the  passage  of  the  Wyndham  Act  of  1903. 
Under  this  the  British  treasury  advances  up  to  $800,000,- 
000  at  two  and  three-quarters  per  cent,  interest,  with  one- 
half  per  cent,  added  for  the  sinking  fund.  The  advances 
are  made  in  cash  by  the  Estates  Commissioners,  and  the 
tenants  pay  three  and  one-quarter  per  cent,  of  the  sum 
annually.  At  this  rate  they  acquire  ownership  in  sixty-eight 
and  one-half  years.  Instead  of  paying,  say  $50  a  year  rent 
forever,  the  tenant  pays  $30  or  $35  annually,  with  the  cer- 
tainty that  his  heirs  will  own  the  property. 

And  what  was  the  security — aside  from  the  land — for 
this  huge  loan?  It  may  interest  those  who  decry  the  Irish 
peasantry  as  improvident  to  know.  The  security  is  the  credit 
of  the  Irish  tenant  farmers,  and  what  that  credit  is  may  be 
measured  from  the  fact  that  out  of  more  than  70,000  pur- 
chasers under  previous  acts,  only  two  failed  to  meet  their 
payments.  The  amounts  received  by  the  landlords  as  pur- 
chase money  do  not,  of  course,  yield  incomes  in  interest  equal 
to  the  sums  extorted  in  rents.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  they 
have  security  from  agitation  and  further  reductions  of  rent, 
and,  in  addition,  a  bonus  of  $60,000,000  was  provided  to 
"bridge  the  gap"  between  former  rents  and  the  incomes 
from  purchase  moneys.  Under  this  act,  between  November 
1,  1903,  and  March  31,  1906,  nearly  87,000  holdings  passed 
from  the  ownership  of  landlords  to  the  ownership  of  tenants. 
Here  is  the  Land  Purchase  record  for  the  period  ending 
March  31,  1908: 

Number  of  tenants  who  have  purchased  their  holdings  under 

Acts  of 

1870    877       1891  and  1896.  .  47,000 

1881    731       1903    141,940 

1885  and  1888..  .  25,000 

Thus  we  see  that  under  all  the  Land  Purchase  Acts  more 


AFTER  SEVEN  YEARS 


ii5 


than  21 5,000  tenants  have  been  made  owners  of  their  farms 
or  are  now  in  process  of  acquiring  ownership.  There  are 
still,  nevertheless,  many  defects  in  the  law,  but  most  of  these 
will  be  remedied  by  the  amending  act  now  being  pressed  by 
the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party  upon  the  friendly  Liberal 
government.*  The  chief  reform  will  be  the  making  of  sales 
by  landlords  compulsory.  When  tenants  on  an  unsold  estate 
find  themselves  paying  rent,  while  their  neighbors  on  an 
adjoining  estate  are  paying  less  sums  annually  in  purchase 
money,  discontent  is  inevitable.  This  anomaly  must,  of 
course,  be  extinguished.  All  England  virtually  realizes  now 
that  Ireland  will  never  be  satisfied,  and  cannot  in  justice  be 
satisfied,  until  the  last  vestige  of  her  archaic  and  intolerable 
system  of  landlordism  has  been  swept  away. 

Before  leaving  this  question  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  quote 
an  undeniable  authority  for  the  statements  made  concerning 
the  land  system  which  is  now  disappearing.  Pages  could  be 
filled  with  citations  from  statesmen  such  as  Gladstone, 
Bright,  Chamberlain  and  Balfour,  besides  economists  like 
John  Stuart  Mill,  and  various  commissions  whose  reports 
cumber  the  parliamentary  files  of  the  last  century.  It  will 
be  sufficient  to  quote  a  few  passages  from  the  final  report  of 
the  Royal  Commission  on  Congestion  in  Ireland,  dated  May 
5,  1908. 

This  commission,  appointed  July  20,  1906,  worked 
zealously  for  nearly  two  years,  visited  every  part  of  Ire- 
land, inspected  conditions  at  close  range  and  examined  hun- 
dreds of  witnesses,  whose  testimony  fills  ten  big  volumes. 
The  members  included  the  Earl  of  Dudley,  once  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant; Sir  Anthony  MacDonnell,  former  Undersecretary; 
the  Most  Reverend  Patrick  O'Donnell,  Bishop  of  Raphoe, 
and  other  distinguished  men.    The  report  says : 

"Two  questions  naturally  arise:  First,  how  did  districts 
so  little  capable  of  supporting  any  population  at  all  come  to 
be  populated  very  thickly,  as  regards  the  productive  capacity 
of  the  land;  and,  second,  how  is  it  that  in  large  districts, 

*The  bill  passed  the  House  of  Commons  in  October,  1909,  but 
was  emasculated  by  the  House  of  Lords  by  elimination  of  the  clause 
making  sales  compulsory.  This,  with  the  lords'  opposition  to  the 
budget,  created  a  political  crisis,  which  may  lead  to  a  general  election 
early  in  1910. 


n6        THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


where  the  land  is  mostly  good,  there  are  very  few  people  on 
the  good  land,  but  great  numbers  on  the  bad  land  adjoining? 
The  main  answer  to  both  queries  is  to  be  found  in  the  course 
of  Irish  history  during  the  last  three  hundred  years,  though, 
of  course,  economic  causes  have  contributed,  especially  during 
the  nineteenth  century.  The  various  'plantations'  of  Ireland, 
the  acts  of  settlement  and  corporation  and  the  substitution 
of  English  land  tenure  for  the  traditional  Irish  methods  of 
landholding  have  profoundly  affected  the  agrarian  develop- 
ment of  Ireland.  The  chief  incident,  however,  was  the 
Cromwellian  Act  of  Settlement,  under  which  most  of  the 
land-owning  population  implicated  on  the  Royalist  side  were 
banished  west  of  the  Shannon.    *     *  * 

"The  commercial  restrictions  from  which  Ireland 
suffered  during  the  eighteenth  century  forced  the  people  to 
look  for  subsistence  to  the  land,  and  the  agrarian  unrest  was 
intensified  by  the  penal  laws  (against  Catholics)  which  pre- 
vented the  greater  part  of  the  population  from  acquiring  any 
beneficial  interest  in  the  land.  *  *  *  Congestion  and 
sub-division  of  the  holdings  went  on  until  the  great  crash  of 
the  famine.  In  many  cases  the  landlords  were  forced  to 
effect  clearances,  either  by  their  creditors  or  because  of  the 
difficulty  of  obtaining  rents  from  pauper  tenants.  In  certain 
districts  the  greater  portion  of  the  population  died,  and 
whatever  may  be  the  most  potent  causes  of  the  consolidation 
of  holdings  about  the  time  of  the  famine,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  its  extent.    *     *  * 

"While  part  of  the  land  formerly  occupied  by  small 
holdings  was  utilized  for  the  creation  of  large  grazing  farms, 
some  of  it  was  employed  for  the  enlargement  of  other  small 
holdings.  Many  of  the  small  farms  swept  away  were  uneco- 
nomic, but  the  sudden  nature  of  the  changes  undoubtedly 
caused  great  suffering  and  left  bitter  memories.  This  tendency 
to  consolidate  farms  was  given  an  impetus  by  the  Incumbered 
Estates  Act  of  1848,  which  replaced  many  of  the  old  land- 
lords by  new  men,  a  large  number  of  whom,  looking  upon 
the  owning  of  land  as  a  purely  commercial  transaction,  and 
disregarding  traditional  rights  of  the  tenants,  raised  rents  or 
evicted  tenants  and  consolidated  the  holdings  thus  vacated. 
The  rise  in  the  price  of  beef  led  to  more  land  being  cleared 


AFTER  SEVEN  YEARS  117 

by  eviction  and  thrown  into  grazing  farms.  On  the  poorer 
land  many  of  the  inhabitants  were  left  undisturbed,  because 
it  was  not  worth  while  to  resume  possession.  Many  of  those 
evicted  settled  on  unreclaimed  pieces  of  land  in  the  neigh- 
borhood and  added  to  the  congestion,  and  some  carved  out 
new  holdings  for  themselves  on  the  waste  land  along  the 
western  littoral,  and  started  the  almost  impossible  task  of 
winning  a  living  from  land  incapable  of  itself  of  supporting 
life  according  to  any  decent  standard." 

Here  is  the  whole  story — confiscation,  unjust  land  laws, 
congestion,  starvation.  To  the  credit  of  civilization,  the 
elaborate  injustice  of  three  hundred  years  is  now  in  progress 
of  extinction.  Landlordism  is  disappearing,  and  Ireland, 
fitted  by  nature  to  support  millions  in  prosperity,  is  passing 
back  into  the  ownership  of  her  own  people. 


XIV 


*AN  EVICTION 

I  am  going  to  describe  an  Irish  eviction.  It  took 
place  the  day  after  I  landed  in  the  country  to  report  upon 
the  wonderful  progress  made  during  the  last  seven  years  in 
reforming  the  land  laws.  The  scene  I  shall  describe  is  quite 
out  of  harmony  with  the  purposes  of  this  tour,  which  is  to 
show  how  great  a  change  for  the  better  has  been  wrought. 
But  this  eviction,  a  rather  shocking  greeting  to  an  optimistic 
inquirer,  demands  a  place  in  the  story  for  the  very  reason 
that  it  is  shocking.  The  scene  of  brutality  and  violence,  of 
conflict  between  a  stern  law  and  a  defiant  people,  was  in  itself 
evidence  that  a  brighter  day  has  dawned,  because  it  was  so 
unusual.  I  do  not  think  there  have  been  half  a  dozen  forci- 
ble evictions  in  Ireland  since  1902.  When  one  recalls  the 
wholesale  evictions  of  sixty  years  ago  and  of  the  days  of  the 
savage  land  war,  when  families  literally  by  thousands  were 
dragged  out  of  their  cottage  homes  and  flung  into  the  ditches 
to  starve,  one  realizes  that  this  exceptional  affair  is  a  sign 
of  hope,  for  its  general  condemnation  is  testimony  that  the 
barbarous  custom  is  extinguished  forever.  In  the  present 
instance  I  shall  not  enter  into  the  merits  of  the  case  which 
furnishes  the  unusual  example.  Indeed,  from  inquiries  made 
I  judge  that  it  would  be  a  nice  decision  which  should  say 
whether  justice  was  with  the  landlord  or  the  tenant.  I  shall, 
therefore,  simply  describe  what  occurred  as  I  learned  it  from 
eye-witnesses  and  an  inspection  of  the  field  of  battle. 

The  scene  was  the  farmhouse  of  Richard  J.  Walsh,  near 
Kilmurry,  a  short  distance  from  Castleisland,  in  the  county 
of  Kerry.  As  it  lies  only  a  couple  of  hours'  drive  from  Kil- 
larney,  quite  a  number  of  the  spectators  were  from  the  shores 
of  the  beautiful  lakes.  Walsh  and  his  landlord,  a  Dublin 
man,  had  been  at  odds  for  many  months.  Settlement  being 
found  impossible,  there  was  an  attempt  at  eviction  in  June, 

♦This  chapter  was  written  in  Killarney  in  July,  1909. 

118 


AN  EVICTION 


119 


1909.  But  when  the  sheriff  and  his  bailiffs  arrived  to 
serve  their  writ  they  found  the  place  fortified,  and  their 
summons  was  greeted  with  scorn.  This  having  been 
reported  and  renewed  negotiations  having  proved  useless, 
the  might  of  the  British  government  was  invoked.  The 
American,  with  his  quick  resentment  of  anything  approach- 
ing militarism,  may  be  interested  to  know  that  the  subjection 
of  this  farmhouse,  inhabited  by  one  farmer  and  his  bedridden 
mother,  eighty-three  years  old,  called  for  not  only  the  local 
members  of  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary,  but  drafts  from 
Kerry7,  Limerick  and  Dublin.  A  whole  company  of  these 
armed  military  police,  with  their  officers,  was  brought  from 
the  capital,  two  hundred  miles  away.  It  may  be  remarked 
that  the  defenders  were  determined  to  make  the  trip  worth 
while.  Fourteen  neighbors  of  Walsh  volunteered  to  garrison 
the  house,  and  the  defense  they  put  up  was  regarded  by  con- 
noisseurs in  evictions  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  stubborn 
on  record.  Barring  the  facts  that  firearms  were  not  used  cn 
either  side  and  that  no  one  was  killed,  the  contest  was  as 
serious  and  as  brutal  as  any  incident  of  war. 

The  constabulary,  drafted  into  Castleisland,  were  under 
command  of  Assistant  Inspector  General  Ball,  of  Dublin, 
one  of  the  ablest  and  most  fearless  of  the  officers.  He 
moved  his  forces  like  an  alert  military  commander.  At  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  a  driving  rain,  the  sheriff,  the 
bailiffs  and  their  armed  escort  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  con- 
stables marched  out  of  Castleisland  and  along  the  winding 
road  to  Fort  Walsh.  Civilians  interested  in  the  row  pre- 
ceded and  followed  the  military,  some  on  foot  and  some  in 
jaunting  cars.  On  one  of  the  vehicles  that  sped  along  the 
wet  lanes  was  Joseph  Murphy,  M.  P.,  who  had  hastened 
over  from  London  in  the  night  to  witness  the  difficulties  of 
one  of  his  constituents. 

It  was  hardly  daylight,  owing  to  the  low-hanging  clouds, 
when  the  attacking  force  approached  the  condemned  farm- 
house. But  early  as  it  was,  the  defenders  were  astir,  and 
knots  of  sullen  country  people  stood  about  as  the  big  force 
of  constables  marched  up.  Between  six  and  seven  o'clock 
the  church  bells  in  surrounding  villages  began  to  ring  "and 
horns  were  blown.    This  roused  the  whole  countryside,  and 


120         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

from  every  direction  men  and  women  came  tramping  through 
the  mud  to  the  scene  of  strife.  The  constables,  drawn  up  in 
uniformed  ranks,  looked  grim  enough  in  the  gray  morning 
light,  but  the  people  looked  grimmer  still.  The  rain  fell 
steadily. 

It  was  a  little  after  seven  o'clock  when  the  attack  com- 
menced. The  deadly  looking  eviction  paraphernalia — peace- 
ful weapons  in  their  proper  use — had  been  brought  along  in 
carts.  The  house  could  be  reached  only  by  a  lane  overhung 
by  huge  elms.  Two  of  these  trees,  a  hundred  yards  apart, 
had  been  cut  near  the  ground  and  blocked  the  thoroughfare 
with  a  tangle  of  big  branches.  While  squads  of  police  were 
detailed  to  surround  the  farm,  bailiffs  took  big  cross-cut  saws 
and  axes  and  began  the  task  of  cutting  away  the  first  barrier. 
It  should  be  observed  that  only  the  civil  authorities  were 
employed  in  the  attack  at  first.  The  military  arm  was  used 
when  the  sheriff's  men  had  confessed  themselves  beaten.  It 
took  a  full  half  hour  for  the  sweating  bailiffs  to  cut  a  passage 
through  the  felled  trees,  admitting  the  vehicles.  Meanwhile, 
Mr.  Murphy,  more  as  a  matter  of  form  than  with  any  hope 
of  stopping  the  attack,  talked  to  Inspector  Ball  about 
Walsh's  aged  mother  lying  ill  in  the  beleaguered  house. 
Ball  readily  promised  that  every  effort  would  be  made  to 
avoid  harming  her.  Mr.  Murphy  tried  to  get  a  pledge  that 
the  police  would  merely  protect  the  civil  officers  and  not 
assist  in  the  attack.  He  urged  the  desirability  of  bringing 
about  peace,  if  possible. 

"Please  don't  address  me  on  these  points,"  said  the 
inspector.  "1  have  nothing  to  do  with  negotiations.  My 
duty  is  to  protect  the  sheriff  and  his  men.  If  they  are  resisted 
with  violence,  it  becomes  our  duty  to  smash  in  and  make 
arrests." 

Mr.  Murphy  persisted,  but  the  inspector  was  inflexible, 
and  finally  asked  sharply  that  the  discussion  be  ended. 
While  it  was  in  progress  the  bailiffs  had  cleared  a  gap  which 
had  been  filled  with  small  trees,  brambles  and  stones,  and 
through  this  the  horses  and  carts  were  led  into  a  field  adjoin- 
ing the  house.  The  police,' the  rain  dripping  from  their  caps 
and  the  mud  splashing  under  their  feet,  followed  and  were 
drawn  up  in  squads,  completely  surrounding  the  dwelling. 


AX  EVICTION 


It  was  a  curious  sight — an  amazing  sight  in  a  time  or  pea:^ 
in  this  twentieth  century.  In  the  center  of  the  armed  circle 
was  the  farmhouse,  built  of  stone,  in  the  ordinary  cottage 
design.  On  every  side  it  was  heavily  fortified  with  big 
trunks  of  trees,  stones  and  brambles.  Holes  had  been  cut  in 
the  roof,  and  from  these  peered  the  masked  faces  of  the 
defenders.  There  was  a  pause  of  a  few  minutes,  besiegers 
and  besieged  regarding  each  other  silently.  Then  the  sheriff 
started  work. 

A  horse  was  unhitched,  a  rope  fastened  to  him  and  a 
half  dozen  bailiffs  carried  one  end  of  the  rope  to  the  house, 
where  they  took  a  hitch  around  one  of  the  tree  trunks.  A 
crack  of  the  whip,  a  crash  and  a  stumble,  and  one  of  the  big 
timbers  had  been  dragged  from  the  fortifications.  But  net 
without  casualties.  As  the  bailiffs  ran  close  to  the  house 
showers  of  boiling  water  and  hot  tar  came  from  the  openings 
in  the  roof.  The  luckless  officers  winced  as  the  stinging 
shower  fell  on  them,  but  did  their  work  and  get  away  with- 
out being  disabled.  In  a  few  minutes  they  went  at  it  again, 
working  manfully  under  the  painful  bombardment  from  the 
house.  One  by  one  the  trees  were  hauled  away.  As  the  men 
clambered  up  the  barricade,  compelled  to  stop  now  and  then 
and  use  axes  on  the  entangled  branches,  buckets  appeared  at 
the  holes  in  the  roofs  and  emptied  their  burning  contents  on 
the  assailants.  From  time  to  time  a  real  shower  spurted  out. 
The  beleaguered  garrison  was  well  supplied  with  ammuni- 
tion and  with  a  rude  sort  of  artillery,  too.  Besides  hot  water 
and  tar,  the  defenders  used  dry  and  wet  lime  and  drew  on 
stores  of  stable  refuse  which  they  had  carried  into  the  house 
before  the  siege.  They  did  very  effective  work  with  boiling 
water  ejected  from  machines  used  in  spraying  trees. 

During  all  this  time  the  rain  fell  steadily,  driven  by  a 
searching  wind.  The  disciplined  constabulary  watched  the 
amazing  operations  in  stolid  silence,  but  the  country  folk, 
outside  the  military  lines,  cheered  whenever  the  attacking 
party  was  driven  back  temporarily.  It  was  an  exciting  scene, 
yet  a  sordid  one,  too.  The  defense  was  stubborn,  but  hardly 
of  a  character  to  arouse  enthusiasm,  because  the  assailants  had 
to  work  in  the  open  and  were  forbidden  by  law  to  make  ar*' 
reprisal.    It  was  an  unequal  contest,  though,  because  it  cou!  J 


122         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

end  in  but  one  way,  and  there  was  something  admirable  in 
the  savage  obstinacy  of  the  fifteen  men  in  the  house,  because 
they  knew  they  were  condemning  themselves  to  prison  terms 
by  their  actions.  Mr.  Murphy  again  tried  to  persuade  the 
authorities  to  withdraw,  this  time  appealing  to  the  sheriff. 
But  that  officer  grimly  said  he  must  proceed  with  his  duty. 
For  more  than  one  hour  his  men  toiled  at  the  barricade  at  the 
eastern  end  of  the  house  before  they  got  the  gable  half 
cleared.  Then  the  sheriff,  drawing  his  men  beyond  range 
of  the  buckets  and  spraying  machines,  read  aloud  the  eject- 
ment decree  and  formally  demanded  surrender  of  the  occu- 
pants of  the  house.  Of  course,  no  one  inside  heard  him, 
and  if  they  had  the  answer  would  have  been  a  shout  of 
defiance.  So  the  attack  continued.  Drenched  with  rain  and 
smeared  with  tar  and  lime,  the  bailiffs  resumed  the  attack  on 
the  barricade,  to  be  met  by  still  more  determined  defense 
from  within  the  house.  Flesh  and  blood  could  hardly  with- 
stand such  punishment  long,  and  after  half  an  hour  of  gruel- 
ing work  the  men  retreated,  beaten  back.  The  sheriff 
reported  to  Inspector  Ball  that  the  violence  offered  to  his 
men  was  of  such  a  character  that  he  was  constrained  to  ask 
for  police  aid. 

There  was  a  quick  change.  The  inspector,  who  had 
been  watching  the  battle  critically,  but  with  apparent  indiffer- 
ence, stiffened  into  a  combatant.  Sharp  orders  rang  out,  the 
ranks  of  the  constabulary  broke,  men  darted  hither  and 
thither,  each  intent  on  his  duty,  and  within  five  minutes  the 
serious  business  of  reducing  the  stronghold  began.  This 
time  something  had  to  give  way,  and  obviously  it  would  not 
be  the  constabulary.  Some  of  them  ran  forward  with  a  long 
ladder,  which  was  flung  with  a  crash  against  the  eaves.  Men 
ran  up  the  rungs,  shielding  their  faces  as  best  they  could 
from  the  deadly  shower  of  water  and  tar  and  lime,  and, 
clinging  to  the  ladder  desperately,  brandished  iron  rods 
wound  with  barbed  wire  over  the  apertures  in  the  roof  and 
wall.  This,  of  course,  was  to  keep  the  besieged  men  back 
from  the  openings.  But  the  ruse  was  not  effective  against 
the  well-handled  buckets  and  spraying  machines.  From  the 
evenings  still  came  streams  of  material,  and  the  dark  green 
uniforms  were  soon  bedaubed  with  the  mess.    While  the 


AN  EVICTION 


123 


men  on  the  ladder  tried  to  keep  back  the  defenders  their 
followers  attacked  in  earnest  the  stone  wall  of  the  house 
beneath  them,  where  the  barricade  of  trees  had  been  cleared 
away.  Despite  the  pitiless  bombardment,  they  hacked 
steadily  at  the  wall  with  picks  and  crowbars,  and  slowly,  very 
slowly,  began  to  make  an  impression  on  the  stones.  The 
assaults  from  within  became  more  savage.  Relentlessly  the 
besieged  men  poured  out  their  bombardment  of  boiling  water 
and  tar,  with  streams  of  powdered  lime  and  liquid  plaster, 
until  the  attacking  party  were  literally  unrecognizable. 

"It  was  a  disgusting  scene,"  declared  the  eye-witness  who 
described  it  to  me — a  man  whose  sympathies,  by  the  way, 
were  with  the  defenders.  "I  have  seen  many  an  eviction  in 
bygone  days,  but  never  one  so  brutal.  The  men  inside  made 
a  gallant  stand  in  a  hopeless  light,  but  the  men  outside  stood 
the  worst  punishment  I  ever  witnessed." 

The  remarkable  part  of  it  was  the  grim  good  nature  of 
the  constabulary.  The  men  went  forward  in  relays,  smiling, 
and  came  back  drenched  and  disfigured,  still  smiling,  even 
while  they  winced  with  pain  and  weariness.  Inspector  Ball 
took  his  share  of  the  work  with  his  men.  His  face  was  black 
and  grimed  and  his  uniform  was  a  mass  of  tar  and  lime;  but 
he  stood  steadily  at  his  post,  directing  the  attack  with  relent- 
less precision.  Mr.  Murphy,  who  had  declared  again  and 
again  that  the  scene  was  disgraceful  in  an  age  of  enlighten- 
ment, finally  begged  the  commander  to  withdraw  his  men,  if 
only  for  five  minutes,  that  an  appeal  might  be  made  to  the 
defenders  for  a  compromise.  Inspector  Ball  wiped  the  sweat 
from  his  eyes  and  pointed  to  a  paneless  window. 

"I  cannot  withdraw  my  men,"  he  said,  "but  you  may 
go  up  there  and  talk  to  the  persons  inside,  if  you  wish." 

This  was  out  of  the  question,  and  the  savage  work  went 
on.  The  constabulary  persisted  in  the  face  of  almost  incred- 
ible punishment.  One  man,  a  sergeant,  stood  on  a  ladder  for 
more  than  an  hour  trying  to  protect  his  comrades  below. 
During  the  whole  of  that  time  he  was  a  target  for  the  attacks 
of  those  within,  and  when  he  was  finally  relieved  he  hardly 
resembled  a  human  being.  Meanwhile,  a  detachment  of  the 
police  carried  on  a  "flank"  attack  at  the  front  of  the  house, 
if  the  expression  will  be  permitted.   First  they  dragged  away 


THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


the  barricade  of  trees,  then  smashed  a  window,  all  the  time 
showered  with  missiles  from  the  roof.  Others  formed 
a  "sharpshooting"  squad,  throwing  stones  at  the  roof  open- 
ings to  discourage  those  inside  at  work  at  the  apertures. 
This  astounding  scene  continued  until  after  eleven  o'clock. 
For  more  than  four  hours  the  authorities  had  been  battering 
at  the  house,  and  still  had  not  captured  it.  The  pick  and 
crowbar  men  had  been  relieved  again  and  again.  No  matter 
how  badly  mauled  were  the  men  who  were  called  off  to  rest, 
there  were  always  others  ready  to  take  their  places. 

At  last  the  ceaseless  battering  at  the  wall  began  to  tell. 
A  big  stone  was  pried  loose,  then  another  and  another,  and 
a  black  gap  showed  in  the  structure.  The  constables,  under 
a  withering  attack  from  above,  tore  at  the  stones  furiously. 
The  gap  widened  and  was  carried  downward  toward  the 
ground.  Inspector  Ball  summoned  four  men.  They  lined 
up,  armed  with  rifles,  and  fixed  their  bayonets.  The 
inspector  drew  his  sword  and  marched  toward  the  house. 
The  attackers  fell  back,  and  through  the  breach  marched 
the  commander  and  his  squad.  There  was  no  resistance. 
With  the  opening  of  the  breach  the  defenders  quit.  They 
had  done  their  best  and  their  worst.  The  rest  was  jail. 
Richard  Walsh  and  his  fourteen  companions — neighbors 
from  the  Castleisland  district  and  men  from  Tralee — were 
placed  under  arrest  and  sent,  handcuffed,  to  Castleisland, 
where  that  afternoon  they  were  remanded  for  trial. 

The  house,  battered  within  and  without,  looked  as 
though  it  had  been  the  center  of  a  furious  battle,  as  indeed 
it  had.  In  the  center  of  the  dwelling,  placed  as  far  as  pos- 
sible from  the  scenes  of  strife,  lay  Mrs.  Walsh,  not  danger- 
ously ill,  but  too*  weak  to  be  moved.  Inspector  Ball  gave 
orders  that  she  should  not  be  disturbed.  Women  neighbors 
came  to  tend  her,  while  a  bailiff  remained  in  charge  of  the 
premises  in  the  name  of  the  vindicated  law.  All  along  the 
road  to  the  jail  the  fifteen  prisoners  were  cheered  by  the 
country  folk.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  strict  merits  of 
the  case,  they  were  regarded  as  fighters  for  a  principle. 
Most  of  them  were  released  under  $250  personal  bail,  with 
two  sureties  of  $125  each.  That  evening  a  public  meeting 
was  held,  Walsh  and  some  of  his  fellow-defenders  being 


AN  EVICTION 


125 


present.  Mr.  Murphy  in  a  speech  declared  the  people  pro- 
tested against  the  use  of  the  police  as  members  of  the  crowbar 
brigade. 

"I  believe  Dick  Walsh  and  his  brave  companions,'*  he 
said,  "are  fighting  the  battle  of  all  the  tenants  in  Kerry  in 
the  effort  he  is  making  to  obtain  justice.  Public  opinion  is 
stronger  than  the  government,  and  public  opinion  is  with 
him.  He  has  suffered,  and  may  suffer  more,  but  the  fight 
made  to-day  by  him  and  his  friends  has  sounded  the  death 
knell  of  forcible  evictions  in  this  county." 

The  ruined  homestead  on  the  day  after  the  eviction  was 
a  sadly  instructive  scene.  The  roof  was  torn  and  battered, 
every  window  broken  and  a  great  gaping  hole  in  the  end 
wall.  The  dooryard  was  a  sea  of  trampled  mud,  and  all 
about  lay  the  scarred  trunks  of  trees,  those  still  piled  around 
the  house  being  smeared  with  tar  and  lime.  Inside  lay  the 
old  mother  of  the  evicted  tenant,  feeble  in  health,  but  obdu- 
rate as  her  son.  Whose  was  the  fault?  Upon  whom  lies  the 
blame  for  the  awful  waste  and  misery  and  the  harvest  of  hate 
that  must  be  garnered  from  such  a  sowing?  Upon  the  merits 
of  the  individual  case  the  courts  will  decide.  But  surely  one 
may  condemn  a  system  in  which  such  barbarities  survive,  and 
surely  one  may  rejoice  that  in  all  likelihood  there  will  never 
be  such  another  scene,  once  so  familiar,  in  this  island. 


XV 

CONGESTION  REMEDIED 

As  has  been  written,  I  talked  with  John  Dillon,  noted 
among  the  Irish  leaders,  of  the  great  work  which  has  been 
done  for  the  people  since  I  visited  Ireland  seven  years 
ago.  He  is  no  mere  enthusiast,  this  calm,  studious  man  of 
affairs.  His  devotion  to  his  country  is  as  deep  and  his  spirit 
as  resolute  as  in  the  days  when  he  was  literally  a  rebel  against 
the  government  and  tasted  the  bitterness  of  prison  for  the 
cause.  But  a  calmer  time  has  come  as  the  result  of  what  he 
and  his  associates  suffered.  He  sees  the  things  for  which  he 
fought  coming  to  pass  in  government  policies.  Instead  of 
defying  the  laws  he  helps  to  make  them.  Instead  of  being 
a  political  outlaw  he  is  a  respected  member  of  the  governing 
system — still  unreconciled  to  its  gross  defects,  still  waging 
war  for  the  reforms  which  alone  can  revive  Ireland's  pros- 
perity, a  leader  in  the  peaceful  reformation  which  follows 
the  turbulence  of  revolt.  So  that  when  I  asked  him  how 
much  progress  had  been  made  in  the  brief  period  he  spoke 
with  dispassionate  conviction  and  not  in  exuberance. 

"The  whole  face  of  the  land  has  been  changed,"  he 
said,  and  for  an  hour  he  described  the  marvelous  betterments 
which  had  been  wrought  by  the  simple  application  of  just 
and  rational  laws  to  the  intolerable  abuses  of  the  land  sys- 
tem. 

"The  whole  face  of  the  country  has  been  changed.'1 
It  was  a  striking  phrase — a  little  too  striking,  it  might 
seem,  to  be  strictly  accurate.  I  know  now  that  the  state- 
ment was  literally  true.  I  know,  because  I  have  seen.  I 
know,  because  I  have  traveled  for  days  and  days  over  the 
countryside  which  I  traversed  seven  years  ago,  and  have  seen 
peace  and  plenty  where  then  I  saw  misery  and  despair.  The 
face  of  the  land  has,  indeed,  been  changed,  for  there  are 
happy  homes  and  gardens  where  cattle  grazed,  and  industry 

*This  chapter  was  written  in  Castlerea,  County  Roscommon,  in 
July,  1909. 

126 


CONGESTION  REMEDIED 


127 


and  contentment  where  hopeless  poverty  held  its  ghastly 
sway.  Needless  to  say  the  work  is  not  yet  done,  for  the 
vast  problem  covers  an  area  of  millions  of  acres  and  the  lives 
of  half  a  million  human  beings.  But  the  start  has  been 
made,  and  the  work  of  a  few  short  years  has  lifted  thousands 
from  despair.  The  justice  of  the  long  fight  has  been  recog- 
nized, and  the  Empire  has  been  pledged  to  the  remedy.  It 
needs  only  time  and  money  to  complete  the  great  task. 

That  the  remedy  is  the  substitution  of  peasant  proprie- 
torship for  landlordism  has  been  fully  explained.  For  thirty 
years  this  change  has  been  going  on.  Thousands  of  tenants 
— tens  of  thousands — have  become  owners  of  their  lands  by 
contracting  to  pay  annuities  for  government  loans  instead  of 
rent  to  landlords ;  and  in  every  case  the  transfer  has  justified 
itself.  This  scheme  of  general  land  purchase  is,  however, 
so  vast  in  extent  that  I  shall  not  do  more  than  give  a  sum- 
mary of  the  results.  I  shall  describe  in  detail  only  one  part 
of  the  economic  revolution — the  most  important  part, 
because  the  suffering  of  the  people  has  been  the  greatest;  and 
the  most  picturesque  and  creditable,  because  the  improvement 
has  been  of  such  marvelous  extent. 

To  deal  with  the  huge  and  intricate  problem  of  land 
purchase  there  have  been  in  existence  for  many  years  two 
bodies  of  wide  powers — the  Land  Commission,  formed  in 
1 88 1,  and  the  Estates  Commissioners;  formed  in  1903.  A 
third  body,  created  to  deal  with  the  most  acute  conditions 
of  distress,  is  the  Congested  Districts  Board;  it  is  the  work 
of  this  body  which  will  be  more  fully  described.  It  may  be 
taken  as  a  fact  that  land  purchase  as  a  policy  is  going  steadily 
forward,  justified  more  emphatically  with  each  passing  year. 
The  congested  districts  constitute  a  problem  within  a  prob- 
lem— a  condition  which  demanded  special  and  drastic  treat- 
ment, aside  from  the  application  of  the  basic  principles  of 
land  purchase.  Practical  recognition  of  the  great  task  and 
practical  efforts  to  cope  with  it  are  due  to  A.  J.  Balfour,  once 
(Conservative)  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  later  Prime 
Minister  and  now  leader  of  the  Opposition  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  It  was  when  Chief  Secretary  that  he  conceived 
the  idea  of  placing  the  poorest  districts  of  Ireland  under  the 
management  and  control  of  a  special  body  of  nominated, 


28         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


rnpaid,  conscientious  men.  They  were  to  be  endowed  with 
large  powers  and  made  administrators  of  a  fund  to  be 
devoted  to  the  betterment  of  the  condition  of  the  people  and 
the  development  of  the  agricultural,  fishing  and  industrial 
resources  of  the  districts  most  needing  such  aid. 

The  Congested  Districts  Board  was  created  in  1891, 
and  its  powers  have  been  enlarged  by  six  supplementary  acts. 
Further  and  radical  expansion  of  these  powers  is  proposed 
in  the  land  act  now  under  consideration  in  the  Parlia- 
ment. Wide  latitude  has  been  given  to  the  board  by 
the  successive  statutes.  It  can  purchase  untenanted  lands 
with  government  funds,  acting  through  the  Land  Commis- 
sion. It  can  enlarge  and  rearrange  holdings  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  tenants  and  make  them  owners  by  agreements  of  pur- 
chase on  the  annuity  plan.  It  can  move  families,  where  that 
is  possible  and  desirable.  It  can  build  roads  and  fences,  con- 
struct drains,  open  and  develop  uninhabited  tracts,  level  woods, 
deepen  and  divert  rivers,  advance  funds  for  individual 
improvements.  And  it  can  erect  comfortable,  sanitary  dwell- 
ings for  the  helpless  occupants  of  hovels,  and  start  families 
steeped  in  poverty  upon  the  road  to  self-respecting,  self- 
sustaining  industry  and  comfort.  All  this  the  board  can  do, 
and  all  this  it  has  done  and  is  doing  to  the  extent  of  the  funds 
at  its  disposal.  Already  it  has  to  its  credit  amazing  accom- 
plishments, and  inquiry  makes  it  clear  that  the  passage  of  the 
present  land  act  will  enable  the  board  to  solve  completely  the 
vast,  intricate  and  distressing  problem  of  the  most  unfortu- 
nate part  of  Ireland. 

To  understand  clearly  the  nature  of  the  work  and  the 
almost  incredibly  sunken  condition  of  the  people  whom  it  is 
sought  to  rescue,  the  reader  must  learn  the  character  and 
extent  of  the  congested  districts.  The  framers  of  the  Act 
of  1 89 1  had  first  to  define  the  area  with  which  the  proposed 
board  should  be  empowered  to  deal.  After  exhaustive 
inquiry  and  various  tests,  it  was  decided  that  the  electoral 
divisions — of  which  there  are  3652  in  Ireland — should  be 
considered  the  unit  of  congestion,  and  that  that  division 
should  be  scheduled  as  congested  where  the  average  (annual) 
ratable  valuation  was  under  $7.50;  that  is,  where  the  aver- 
age assessment  of  annual  value  was  less  than  $7.50  for  each 


1 


CONGESTION  REMEDIED  129 


person.  [It  should  be  noted  that  the  taxes  are  levied  upon 
annual  ratable  value,  and  not  upon  market  value,  as  in 
America.]  It  was  obvious,  however,  that  there  would  be 
found  a  few  electoral  divisions  in  every  county  that  would 
meet  this  test.  Hence  there  was  made  a  restricting  provision 
that  no  division  in  any  county  should  be  scheduled  as  con- 
gested unless  at  least  one-fifth  of  the  total  population  of  the 
county  lived  in  congested  divisions  as  defined. 

Under  these  provisions,  four  hundred  and  twenty-nine 
electoral  divisions  in  the  counties  of  Donegal,  Leitrim,  Sligo, 
Mayo,  Roscommon,  Galway,  Kerry  and  Cork  were  recorded 
as  congested  within  the  meaning  of  the  act.  There  was  a 
deliberate  purpose  here,  of  course,  to  concentrate  the  efforts 
of  the  board,  but  the  restrictions  obviously  worked  injustice. 
Many  electoral  divisions  quite  as  poor  as  those  scheduled 
were  ignored  because  they  lay  in  the  midst  of  rich  counties 
other  than  those  named,  or  in  the  midst  of  prosperous  dis- 
tricts in  the  eight  counties  referred  to.  Through  no  fault  of 
their  own,  the  inhabitants  of  such  divisions  have  been 
excluded  from  the  benefits  of  the  board's  operation.  There 
was  even  the  anomaly  of  the  board's  buying  land  outside  a 
congested  district  and  moving  on  to  it  families  from  such 
districts,  while  it  was  unable  to  give  any  help  to  families 
equally  as  poor  who  lived  next  door  to  the  land  purchased. 
These  defects  are  to  be  remedied  in  the  bill  now  pending.  If 
it  shall  pass,  the  board  will  be  able  to  operate  in  any  part  of 
a  county  in  which  congested  districts  are  scheduled. 

A  few  figures  will  show  the  enormous  extent  of  the  task 
which  confronted  the  board.  The  four  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  congested  districts  have  a  total  area  of  3,626,381  acres, 
more  than  one-sixth  of  the  total  area  of  Ireland,  with  a  popu- 
lation (in  1901)  of  505,723,  more  than  one-ninth  the  total 
population,  and  an  annual  ratable  valuation  of  about 
$2,885,000,  which  is  only  one-twenty-seventh  of  the  total 
valuation  of  Ireland.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  popula- 
tion in  these  districts  is  not  dense  and  that  the  word  "con- 
gested" is  in  reality  a  misnomer.  The  term  was  accidentally 
applied,  but  has  become  official.  It  simply  means  excep- 
tionally poor.  The  average  annual  valuation  of  lands  in 
these  districts  is  eighty  four  cents  per  acre,  while  the  average 
0 


130         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

for  all  Ireland  is  $2.90.  Hence  the  trouble,  as  the  Royal 
Commission  on  Congestion  found,  is  not  a  scarcity  of  land, 
but  a  scarcity  in  these  districts  of  any  but  the  poorest  land. 
Taking  the  total  area,  there  is  an  average  of  about  seven 
acres  per  head;  but  since  the  greater  portion  must  be 
excluded  as  rocky  hillside  or  untillable  bog,  it  will  be  seen 
that  there  is  actually  a  sort  of  congestion  and  that  the  poorer 
parts  of  these  districts  are,  in  fact,  agricultural  "slums. " 
Now,  Ireland  is  predominantly  an  agricultural  country,  but 
this  condition  is  most  marked  in  the  congested  districts. 
There  nine-tenths  of  the  population  subsist,  or  attempt  to, 
upon  agricultural  holdings,  as  against  four-sevenths  in  the 
whole  country.  The  impossible  conditions  of  life  may  be 
understood  when  it  is  stated  that  the  minimum  annual  valua- 
tion of  a  holding  capable  of  supporting  a  family  is  $50, 
while  the  average  in  the  congested  districts  is  $30,  as  against 
$no  for  the  whole  of  Ireland.  No  fewer  than  74,413,  or 
seven-eighths,  of  the  holdings  are  under  the  danger  point  of 
$50,  while  45,138,  or  more  than  one-half  of  the  84,954 
holdings,  have  an  annual  value  of  under  $20.  This  explains 
the  startling  fact  that  thousands  of  families  in  these  districts 
have  been  kept  alive  from  year  to  year  only  through  remit- 
tances from  relatives  in  America  and  through  the  annual 
migration  of  the  stronger  members  to  England  and  Scotland 
as  agricultural  laborers. 

The  causes  of  these  fearful  conditions  I  have  already 
cited  from  official  reports.  They  run  back  to  the  time  of 
Elizabeth  and  forward  to  within  the  present  generation. 
First  were  the  successive  "plantations"  of  court  favorites  and 
adventurers;  then  the  Cromwellian  campaigns  and  statutes, 
which  banished  the  people  from  the  fertile  plains  of  eastern 
and  central  Ireland  to  the  inhospitable  west;  then  the  extinc- 
tion of  every  industry  save  agriculture  by  impossible  duties 
and  actual  prohibition;  then  the  penal  laws  against  Roman 
Catholics;  then  the  fall  in  the  price  of  field  crops  and  the 
rise  in  the  price  of  cattle,  which  started  a  craze  for  grazing 
ranches  and  led  to  the  eviction  of  countless  thousands  from 
the  farms  they  had  made  by  their  own  industry;  then  the 
frightful  catastrophe  of  the  famine  of  1847,  which  doomed 
thousands  more;  then  the  bankruptcy  of  many  of  the  old 


BRINGING  HOME  THE  TURF. 


CONGESTION  REMEDIED 


landlords  and  the  transfer  of  their  estates  to  cold-blooded 
speculators.  Thus  the  remorseless  evolution  went  on,  every 
turn  of  the  screws  of  fate  driving  the  helpless  peasantry 
lower  and  lower  and  staining  the  pages  of  Irish  history  with 
tales  of  suffering  and  slaughter  by  starvation.  And  the  final 
result  was  the  problem  of  the  congested  districts,  with  its 
half  million  of  human  units  staring  with  dreadful  accusation 
in  the  face  of  civilization. 

Dark  as  was  the  score  against  British  misrule  for  three 
hundred  years,  it  must  be  said  that  Great  Britain  made 
honest,  if  misguided,  efforts  during  the  last  quarter  of  the 
nineteenth  century  to  pay  some  part  of  the  gigantic  debt.  In 
that  period  $20,000,000  was  spent  for  the  relief  of  chronic 
poverty  in  Ireland  and  $15,000,000  more  in  plans  to 
improve  means  of  transportation.  But  these  measures  were 
futile  to  reach  the  deep-seated  trouble.  The  ghastly  evolu- 
tion of  centuries  could  not  be  remedied  by  such  means;  it 
required  an  economic  revolution  to  undo  the  gigantic  wrongs. 
That  revolution  began  with  the  establishment  of  the  principle 
of  land  purchase — making  the  tenants  the  owners  of  their 
lands — and  the  movement  goes  resistlessly  onward. 

In  reviewing  the  work  of  the  Congested  Districts 
Board,  which  is  gradually  transforming  the  poorer  parts  of 
Ireland,  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  magnitude  of  the  task 
which  it  has  undertaken — the  reclamation  of  half  a  million 
people,  scattered  over  3,600,000  acres,  or  more  than  one- 
sixth  of  the  area  of  Ireland.  Countless  attempts  were  made 
to  solve  the  immense  problem,  but  it  was  found  at  last  that 
there  was  only  one  remedy — the  creation  of  a  peasant  pro- 
prietary from  the  helpless  tenants.  Specially  empowered  to 
deal  with  the  acute  conditions  in  the  west,  the  Congested 
Districts  Board  has  been  laboring  since  1891  to  effect  the 
transformation.  While  the  funds  at  first  appropriated  were 
wholly  inadequate,  the  powers  of  the  board  as  then  con- 
ferred and  as  enlarged  by  subsequent  acts  are  very  wide.  It 
was  authorized  to  take  steps  toward: 

First — Aiding  migration  or  emigration  from  the  con- 
gested districts  and  settling  the  migrants  or  emigrants  in 
their  new  homes. 


132         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


Second — Aiding  and  developing  agriculture,  forestry, 
the  breeding  of  live  stock  and  poultry,  weaving,  spinning, 
fishing  (including  the  constructionn  of  piers  and  harbors  and 
supplying  fishing  boats  and  gear,  and  industries  connected 
with  fishing)  and  any  other  suitable  industries. 

Considering  the  area  and  the  population  affected,  this 
was  assuredly  a  large  order.    The  powers,  too,  are  remark- 
able.   Their  operation  constitutes  paternalism  of  the  most 
advanced  character,  but  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  nothing 
short  of  paternalism  could  deal  with  the  abnormal  conditions 
that  had  grown  up  throughout  the  centuries.    There  lay 
huge  tracts  of  fertile  land,  utilized  only  for  grazing  pur- 
poses, while  the  people  were  crowded  upon  stony  tracts  of 
hillside  and  desolate  bog.    The  problem  was  really  one  of 
redistribution.    In  some  way  enough  land  of  decent  fertility 
must  be  placed  within  reach  of  each  family  to  insure  a  living 
by  ordinary  labor.    But  this  was  not  all.    The  impossible 
system  under  which  the  people  have  struggled  so  long  and 
so  hopelessly  had  lowered  the  standard  of  living  to  a  shock- 
ing extent.    Many  thousands  of  families  in  the  congested 
districts  lived  amid  surroundings  of  the  direst  poverty  and 
distress.    The  homes  had  degenerated  into  hovels  absolutely 
unfit  for  habitation,  except  that  they  gave  a  sort  of  shelter, 
and,  furthermore,  the  helplessness  and  hopelessness  of  the 
people  had  bred  acquiescence  in  customs  which  made  com- 
fort impossible  and  outbreaks  of  disease  almost  epidemic. 
The  keeping  of  farm  animals  in  the  dwellings  was  quite 
common.    It  was  easy  to  sneer  at  such  habits,  but  when  it  is 
understood  that  thousands  of  families  were  kept  under  a 
roof  only  through  remittances  from  America  and  the  migra- 
tory labor  of  the  stronger  members,  the  wonder  is  that  they 
continued  to  exist  at  all.    The  greater  wonder  is,  though, 
the  resilience  these  very  people  have  exhibited  with  the  lift- 
ing of  the  burden  of  injustice.    For  a  week  I  have  been 
traveling  through  the  country  districts  I  visited  seven  years 
ago,  and  everywhere  I  have  seen  progress,  improvement,  a 
brighter  and  better  civilization.    Just  a  chance — that  was  all 
that  was  needed.    The  hovels  are  being  swept  away;  trim 
and  comfortable  homes  dot  the  landscape  where  there  were 
emptiness  and  desolation;  dooryards  that  used  to  reek  with 


CONGESTION  REMEDIED 


refuse  are  gay  with  flowers,  and  the  people  who  were  once 
silent  with  despair  are  cheerful,  industrious  and  happy. 

The  first  financial  provision  for  the  Congested  Districts 
Board  was  a  grant  of  the  income  of  57.500,000,  transferred 
from  the  Irish  Church  Surplus  Fund— the  surplus  remaining 
after  the  government  bought  out  the  lands  and  tithes  which 
the  people  once  had  to  pay  for  the  support  of  the  Anglican 
Church  in  Ireland.  This  disestablishment  was  one  of  the 
belated  acts  of  justice  which  mark  the  progress  of  Ireland 
in  the  nineteenth  century.  The  first  income,  about  S 205.000. 
was  increased  later,  and  capital  grants  were  also  made.  The 
present  annual  income  is  about  S431.000. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  successful  experiments  by 
the  board  was  the  purchase  of  Clare  Island,  off  the  west 
coast  of  Mayo.  Here  the  experts  learned  to  deal  with  the 
problems  that  had  arisen  under  landlordism.  Most  of  the 
land  was  held  by  the  tenants  under  the  system  known  as 
rundale,  an  almost  infinitely  complicated  division  and  sub- 
division. Fcr  example,  a  man  fifty  years  ago  rented  a  few 
acres  of  ground  and  by  arduous  labor  converted  it  into  a 
farm.  As  his  sons  grew  up  and  his  daughters  married  he 
sublet  to  sons  and  sons-in-law  small  portions  of  his  holding. 
As  the  soil  varied  in  value,  he  did  not  rent  each  one  a  single 
portion,  but  a  small  part  of  each  of  half  a  dozen  cr  a  cozen 
fields.  In  time  these  divisions  were  sub-divided,  deaths 
caused  new  adjustments  and  allotments,  until  when  :he 
board  bought  the  island  only  the  tenacious  memories  of  the 
inhabitants  could  decide  the  boundaries  of  each  man's  hold- 
ings. And,  of  course,  these  holdings  were  scattered.  A  man 
who  paid  rent  for  ten  acres  might  have  it  in  twenty  or  thirty 
scattered  patches.  Many  a  field  of  a  single  acre  was  tilled 
in  tiny  plots  by  six  or  eight  different  tenants.  This  archaic 
system  of  rundale,  indeed,  has  confronted  the  board  in  all 
its  operations.  Only  by  infinite  patience  and  infinite  tact 
have  the  members  been  able  to  redivide  the  lands  in  such  a 
way  as  to  give  each  tenant  purchaser  a  compact  farm.  It 
was  here  that  they  ran  counter  to  complex  agreements  and 
prejudices.  The  man  who,  by  the  labor  of  his  hands,  had 
cieated  from  stony  ground  or  swamp  twenty  plots  of  fertile 
land  could  not  forget  the  years  of  heart-breaking  labor. 


i34        THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

The  farm  offered  to  him  in  one  compact  area  might  be  as 
large  and  as  good  as  his  twenty  plots,  but  into  each  of  those 
tiny  patches  he  had  poured  his  very  life  blood,  and  it  was  a 
bitter  wrench  to  give  them  up.  To  allay  these  suspicions 
and  prejudices  and  to  satisfy  the  passionate  longing  of  the 
people  for  their  own  lands  have  been  the  most  delicate  and 
difficult  of  the  board's  duties. 

Clare  Island,  then,  was  bought  from  the  landlord  for 
$25,000.  There  was  not  a  fence  on  the  island,  and  the 
cattle  and  sheep,  pastured  in  common,  had  to  be  kept  out  of 
the  tilled  lands  by  watchers.  Moreover,  the  tilled  ground, 
as  I  have  explained,  was  divided  into  tiny,  scattered  patches, 
held  under  agreements  and  sub-agreements  in  bewildering 
confusion.  The  board's  first  act  was  to  build  a  seven-mile 
wall  clear  across  the  island,  separating  the  grazing  land  from 
the  tillage  land.  This  wall  cost  $8000.  Then  the  tillage 
land  was  thrown  into  a  pool,  as  it  were,  and  divided  afresh 
among  the  tenants,  each  man  receiving  in  one  section  an 
equivalent  for  the  scattered  patches  he  had  held  before. 
More  than  fifty  miles  of  fences,  running  from  the  main 
dividing  wall  to  the  sea,  were  constructed,  marking  plainly 
the  boundaries  of  each  man's  farm.  In  all,  the  board  spent 
more  on  these  improvements  than  it  had  paid  for  the  land. 
Yet  it  lost  only  a  comparatively  trifling  amount.  It  resold 
the  land  for  $50,000  to  the  tenants,  who  contracted  to  pay 
annuities  of  three  and  one-fourth  per  cent.,  this  covering  the 
interest  on  the  loan  and  creating  a  sinking  fund  that  wipes 
out  the  debt  in  about  sixty-eight  years. 

Now  mark  what  was  accomplished  here.  All  the  inter- 
minable tangle  of  landholding  was  straightened  out,  and 
each  farmer  received  a  compact  piece  of  ground  instead  of 
a  score  or  more  of  detached  and  scattered  patches,  with  a 
consequent  enormous  saving  in  time  and  labor.  The  grazing 
lands  were  divided  from  the  farms  by  a  wall  and  the  farms 
from  each  other  by  fences.  And  the  occupiers  paid  less 
money  annually  toward  purchase  of  their  holdings  than  they 
had  paid  formerly  in  rent.  Was  it  worth  while?  Clare 
Island  is  not  an  abode  of  luxury,  or  even  of  prosperity,  as 
the  American  farmer  understands  it.  But  it  has  been  trans- 
formed from  an  abode  of  bleak  misery  to  a  self-supporting 


CONGESTION  REMEDIED 


i35 


and  self-respecting  community.  In  the  old  days  the  people 
were  so  desperately  poor  that  they  were  forced  literally  to 
defy  the  laws.  A  writ  for  debt  was  utterly  useless,  because 
no  one  but  the  inhabitants  knew  who  owned  the  cattle  pas- 
tured on  the  common,  and  the  bailirt  dared  not  seize  the  ani- 
mals indiscriminately.  Since  the  readjustment  and  the 
change  from  tenancy  to  ownership  the  people  pay  their  just 
debts  promptly:  they  are  as  peaceable  as  those  in  any  other 
part  of  Ireland  and  as  comfortable  as  the  inhabitants  of  such 
an  inhospitable  land  can  be.  They  must  still  struggle  to  live 
decently,  but  at  least  the  rewards  of  their  labor  go  to  them- 
selves and  not  to  a  rapacious  absentee  landlord. 

The  French  estate  had  been  purchased  and  dealt  with 
before,  and  the  Leonard  estate  was  taken  over  later.  These 
three  properties  totaled  6690  acres.  Several  ethers  ~;r* 
added  in  1S97  1S9S.  but  it  was  the  purchase  of  the 
huge  Dillon  estate  in  1S99  which  marked  the  end  of  small 
experiments  and  the  inauguration  of  the  huge  scheme  of 
resettlement  which  has  been  in  operation  since  my  former 
visit  to  Ireland.  The  Dillon  estate  consisted  of  no  fewer  than 
93,000  acres,  with  4300  tenants,  who  paid  rentals  aggre- 
gating S  100.000  a  year.  Most  of  the  land  was  poor  and 
most  of  the  farms  were  "uneconomic** — that  is.  they  did  not 
yield  a  sufficient  return  to  maintain  the  occupiers  at  a  decent 
ctandard  of  living.  Yet  even  this  great  task  was  performed 
without  loss  to  the  board  and  to  the  infinite  benerit  of  the 
people.  The  total  purchase  price  was  $1,625,000.  and 
5350,000  was  expended  on  improvements.  Nevertheless, 
the  4300  tenants  were  provided  with  greatly  improved  hold- 
ings, and  the  annuities  they  pay  are  about  iorvy  per  cent, 
less  than  their  former  rents,  while  the  board  recovered 
not  only  the  amount  paid  to  the  landlord,  but  the  cost  of 
improvements  as  well. 

Unfortunately,  there  was  little  untenanted  land  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  estate,  and  only  a  few  of  the  tenants 
could  be  moved.  But  by  the  building  of  roads  and  fences 
and  the  construction  of  extensive  drainage  works  the  direct 
value  and  fertility  of  the  land  were  so  greatly  enhanced  that 
the  condition  of  all  the  tenants  was  vastlv  improved.  Prob- 
ably one-half  the  farms  are  still  cneconom*:.  v:*  one-half 


136         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

of  these  will  gradually  be  made  economic  within  a  few  years 
by  better  agricultural  treatment.  Meanwhile,  the  Dillon 
estate  tenants  are  virtually  owners  of  their  lands,  and  are 
"as  happy,"  as  one  of  them  said  to  me  seven  years  ago,  "as 
a  choir  of  angels."  One  of  the  most  important  improve- 
ments, of  course,  has  been  the  erection  of  some  hundreds  of 
neat,  comfortable  homes  in  place  of  the  wretched  houses 
formerly  used.  Prior  to  the  passage  of  the  Land  Act  of 
1903  the  board  purchased  forty-six  estates,  with  a  total  area 
of  about  175,000  acres  and  tenants  numbering  more  than 
6500.  The  total  purchase  price  was  about  $2,850,000,  and 
$8 50,000  was  expended  in  improvements.  [The  board  paid 
for  purchased  lands  out  of  advances  made  by  the  Land  Com- 
mission. As  each  holding  was  resold  to  a  tenant  the  com- 
mission wrote  off  a  corresponding  part  of  the  debt.]  On 
all  these  huge  undertakings  the  board's  loss  was  $195,000. 

The  Act  of  1903  marked  a  new  stage  in  the  work.  It 
not  only  increased  the  financial  provision,  but  gave  the  board 
a  freer  hand  in  buying  untenanted  lands  and  migrating  fam- 
ilies from  congested  districts.  But  it  had  numerous  defects, 
and  these  the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party  seeks  to  remedy  in 
the  bill  now  pending. 

Meanwhile,  we  may  consider  briefly  what  the  Con- 
gested Districts  Board  has  accomplished  in  other  directions 
than  the  purchase  and  improvement  and  resale  of  estates. 
An  enormous  work  has  been  done  in  stimulating  better 
methods  of  agriculture,  in  improving  the  fishing  industry  on 
the  west  coast  and  in  fostering  manufacturing  of  various 
kinds.  In  fact,  during  the  earlier  years  of  the  board's  opera- 
tions agricultural  development  was  regarded  as  the  most 
important  branch  of  the  work,  and  until  the  task  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  recently  formed  Department  of  Agriculture, 
in  1904,  most  of  the  board's  income  was  spent  in  various 
schemes  for  the  betterment  of  agricultural  and  stock-raising 
methods.  Object  lessons  were  given  to  inform  the  people 
wherein  they  might  improve  their  tilling.  Experimental 
farms  were  established  and  instructors  appointed  to  spread 
the  knowledge  of  scientific  farming  and  the  principles  of 
breeding.  Stallions  and  bulls  of  high  class  were  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  farmers,  and  special  encouragement  was- 


CONGESTION  REMEDIED 


137 


given  for  improvements  in  the  breeding  of  sheep,  swine  and 
poultry.  The  expenditures  were  quite  heavy — $110,000  on 
instruction,  $300,000  on  horse  breeding,  $110,000  on  cattle 
breeding,  $25,000  on  sheep  and  swine,  $35,000  on  poultry, 
etc.  Not  all  of  the  schemes  were  successful.  Indeed,  it 
became  apparent  in  time  that  such  work  was  of  doubtful 
value,  while  the  intolerable  land  system  remained  to  rob  the 
farmer  of  hope  and  ambition.  With  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  tenants  who  have  become  owners,  the  develop- 
ment schemes  have  been  of  more  practical  use  and  perma- 
nent benefits  have  accrued.  In  all,  the  board  spent  more 
than  $700,000  in  agricultural  work  between  1891  and  1904. 

Another  highly  important  and  more  generally  success- 
ful work  has  been  the  development  of  the  fisheries  of  the 
west  coast.  Through  various  causes  this  great  industry, 
especially  on  the  west  and  northwest  coasts,  had  greatly 
declined,  and  heroic  methods  have  been  employed  to  revive 
it,  since  in  those  districts  it  constitutes  an  element  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  inhabitants  of  the  congested  districts.  The 
board  has  constructed  new  or  improved  piers,  slips  and  other 
harbor  facilities  in  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  different 
places,  most  of  the  works  being  for  the  benefit  of  the  fish- 
eries and  some  for  facilitating  oth^r  trades,  such  as  the 
export  of  turf  or  the  landing  of  seaweed  for  manure.  Other 
methods  of  encouragement  adopted  were  the  making  of 
loans  for  the  purchase  of  boats,  nets  and  fishing  gear;  the 
supplying  of  boats  on  the  share  system;  instruction  in  fishing 
and  the  care  of  nets;  the  promotion  of  boat  building  and 
barrel  building  and  the  development  of  marketing  facilities. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  task  confronting  the  authorities 
was  virtually  the  re-creation  of  an  almost  vanished  industry; 
but  huge  as  the  task  was,  it  was  attacked  with  vigor.  The 
policy  is,  frankly,  paternalism,  but  it  is  of  an  intelligent  and 
business-like  character.  The  board  bought  vast  quanti- 
ties of  fish  all  along  the  coasts  of  Donegal,  Mayo  and  Gal- 
way  and  shipped  some  of  it  cured  and  some  fresh.  When 
the  industry  was  no  longer  an  "infant"  the  board  withdrew 
from  the  work,  but  there  are  now  sixty  private  firms  engaged 
in  fish-curing  on  the  Donegal  coast  alone.  In  1893  &c 
autumn  and  winter  herring  catch  off  Donegal  was  valued  at 


138         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

$5000;  twelve  years  later  it  was  $200,000.  Most  of  the 
fish  are  cured,  as  the  transportation  facilities  for  fresh  fish 
are  inadequate.  Donegal  herrings  usually  bring  top  prices 
in  Germany,  Russia  and  America.  In  all,  the  board  has 
expended  upon  the  fisheries  development  plans  more  than 
half  a  million  dollars,  in  addition  to  $320,000  for  harbor 
improvements.    The  results  have  justified  the  expenditure. 

A  still  more  discouraging  problem  faced  the  board  in 
its  efforts  to  stimulate  other  industries,  chiefly  in  the  manu- 
facturing line.  The  main  difficulty  was  that  manufacturing 
— and,  indeed,  any  industry  except  agriculture,  fishing  and  a 
small  amount  of  quarrying — was  non-existent  in  the  con- 
gested districts.  There  were  no  plants,  no  skilled  factory 
workers.  It  was  necessary  to  begin  at  the  beginning.  What 
Manufacturing"  there  was  was  in  the  way  of  home  indus- 
tries— embroidery,  shirt-making,  knitting,  spinning,  lace- 
making  and  the  weaving  of  homespuns.  One  of  the  most 
picturesque  and  successful  works  assisted  by  the  board  was 
the  Foxford  Woolen  Mills,  started  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 
A  loan  of  $35,000  was  made,  to  be  repaid  in  eighteen  years 
■ — and  the  whole  debt  has  been  liquidated.  A  $6000  mill- 
race  was  constructed  for  the  factory,  and  in  the  earlier  years 
$40,000  was  paid  in  subsidies  for  the  training  of  workers. 
The  factory  employs  one  hundred  and  fifty  hands,  with 
annual  wages  of  more  than  $25,000.  A  technical  school  is 
maintained  for  instruction  in  manufacture  of  woolen  goods, 
hosiery  and  ready-made  clothing  and  in  domestic  training. 
Grants  were  also  made  to  a  hosiery  mill  in  Ballaghadereen 
and  to  four  carpet  factories  in  Donegal. 

The  encouragement  of  homespun  weaving  has  been  an 
interesting  and  important  feature  of  the  work.  Irish  home- 
spun is  noted  the  world  over,  and  the  board's  assistance  in 
the  teaching  of  experts,  in  the  grading  of  webs  and  in  grants 
for  the  improvement  of  looms,  spinning  wheels  and  dyeing 
has  greatly  enhanced  the  value  and  reputation  of  the  prod- 
uct. Lace-making  is  a  "cottage  industry"  in  Ireland,  with 
which  many  Americans  are  indirectly  familiar.  The  beau- 
tiful products  in  applique  and  crochet  which  are  found  in  the. 
big  American  stores  are  made  chiefly  in  the  peasants'  homes 
?ind  in  convents,  where  classes  are  conducted  for  teaching 


FOREMAN  SHOWING  REPORT  TO  MR.  DORAN  (at  right). 


CONGESTION  REMEDIED  139 


girls  the  art.  The  Congested  Districts  Board  has  spent 
large  sums  in  developing  this  industry,  but  the  returns  have 
been  highly  satisfactory.  In  poor  districts  the  board  has 
built  or  rented  suitable  class  rooms,  pays  the  women 
instructors  and  assists  in  marketing  the  lace  in  Dublin,  Bel- 
fast, London  and  elsewhere.  More  than  seventy  such 
classes  are  now  maintained,  and  the  annual  product  averages 
$100,000,  about  one-fifth  of  the  value  of  all  the  lace  pro- 
duced in  Ireland.  As  much  as  $10,000  has  been  earned  in 
a  year  by  the  girls  of  a  single  class.  I  visited  one  of  the 
classes  in  the  fine  school  Father  Denis  O'Hara,  a  member 
of  the  board,  established  in  his  parish  of  Kiltimagh,  County 
Mayo.  Twenty  or  thirty  girls,  from  thirteen  to  twenty 
years  old,  sat  in  a  cheerful  room,  working  busily  under  the 
eye  of  a  young  woman.  Some  were  beginners,  and  had  first 
to  train  their  unaccustomed  fingers  to  the  delicate  work  by 
experimental  stitches.  Others,  after  long  training,  were  pro- 
ducing the  dainty,  filmy  articles  such  as  the  teacher  proudly 
showed  us  in  the  finished  state.  Each  of  these  girls  will  in 
time  be  an  efficient  worker,  able  to  make  a  welcome  addition 
to  the  family  income  through  her  skill  with  the  needle. 
Cooking,  laundering  and  domestic  economy  constitute 
another  branch  of  education  which  is  fostered,  particularly 
in  Donegal.  The  board  employs  six  teachers,  and  by  a  four 
months'  course  fits  those  young  women  who  seek  domestic 
service  to  earn  higher  wages  than  they  could  earn  if  inexperi- 
enced in  the  mysteries  of  household  work. 

But  the  scheme  of  improvement  which  perhaps  has  the 
greatest  effect,  and  which  certainly  produces  the  most  notice- 
able change  for  the  better,  is  the  system  of  encouraging  the 
inhabitants  of  the  poorer  congested  districts  to  make  perma- 
nent improvement  in  their  farms,  buildings  and  surroundings, 
by  means  of  small  grants  of  money  administered  through 
local  committees.  These  bodies  are  known  as  parish  com- 
mittees; they  are  made  up  of  clergymen  of  all  denomina- 
tions, the  poor  law  guardians  and  the  landlords  or  their 
agents,  all  of  these  being  members  ex-officio,  and  six  addi- 
tional members  elected  by  the  ratepayers  of  each  parish. 
To  each  committee  the  board  grants  a  sum  varying  from 
$250  to  $500,  and  then  invites  the  occupiers  of  the  poorer 


140        THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

farms  to  state  what  improvements  they  will  make  if  help  is 
given  to  them.  Enormous  benefits  have  been  produced 
through  comparatively  small  outlay  in  this  direction.  The 
principal  works  are  the  erection  of  decent  habitations  in 
place  of  unsanitary  dwellings  and  of  adequate  stables  and 
other  outbuildings;  the  making  of  roads,  fences,  drains,  etc. 
It  must  be  understood  that  the  money  aid  given  is  small, 
covering  only  such  materials  as  the  occupier  could  not  afford 
to  buy.  All  the  necessary  labor  must  be  supplied  by  the  man 
himself.  The  good  comes  from  the  encouragement  and 
supervision  more  than  from  the  financial  help.  The  people 
want  to  improve  their  surroundings,  and  need  only  a  helping 
hand.  That  the  plan  is  productive  of  immense  good  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  while  the  board  has  expended  about 
$300,000  upon  it,  the  permanent  improvements  made  have 
a  value  of  at  least  $1,500,000.  In  a  single  year  three  hun- 
dred new  houses  have  been  erected  and  2200  unfit  dwellings 
made  sanitary  and  comfortable. 

An  important  feature  of  this  work  is  the  raising  of  the 
standard  of  living.  Financial  aid  is  strictly  contingent  upon 
the  improvement  of  the  surroundings  of  the  house  by  the 
occupier.  He  must  remove  the  stable  refuse  a  specified  dis- 
tance from  the  dwelling  and  must  turn  the  cattle  out  of  it  if 
they  have  been  sheltered  there.  Thus  the  trifling  help 
changes  for  the  better  not  only  the  farm  equipment,  but  the 
whole  manner  of  living.  Hundreds  of  homes  which  helpless 
poverty  made  unsightly  and  unsanitary  have  in  this  way  been 
transformed  into  homes  as  pretty  and  comfortable  as  will  be 
found  in  the  most  prosperous  rural  communities  of  America. 

But  back  of  all  these  ameliorative  works  there  remain 
results  of  the  main  problem — tenants  paying  rents  they  can- 
not afford  because  certain  landlords  refuse  to  be  bound  by 
the  land  purchase  plan.  Therefore  the  British  government 
— or  the  Liberal  Party,  which  is  now  in  power — has  decided 
to  apply  the  final  remedy — the  only  remedy — for  the  deadly 
land  disease  which  so  long  kept  the  people  of  Ireland  in 
economic  slavery.  The  first  successful  step  in  the  treatment, 
taken  after  several  generations  of  agitation,  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  tenant's  right  to  a  certain  ownership  in  the 


CONGESTION  REMEDIED 


141 


improvements  made  by  his  own  labor.  The  second  was  the 
establishment  of  the  principle  of  land  purchase,  by  which 
the  tenants  are  being  made  actual  owners  of  their  lands. 
Now  comes  the  last  move — compulsion. 

To  effect  a  complete  and  permanent  cure  a  vigorous 
dose  is  needed,  and  the  country  is  going  to  get  it.  It  may 
be  called  an  allopathic  dose  of  a  homoeopathic  remedy. 
Compulsion — by  fire  and  sword  and  the  dreadful  enactments 
of  greed  and  prejudice  and  race  hatred — drove  the  people 
from  the  lands  they  had  occupied.  Compulsion — by  care- 
fully and  justly  framed  statutes — is  to  restore  them  to  their 
own. 

Lack  of  the  power  to  compel  linal  and  complete  settle- 
ment of  the  land  problem  has  been  the  chief  weakness  oi 
legislation  heretofore.  The  principle  of  land  purchase  and 
the  urgent  necessity  for  it  were  advanced  more  than  sixty 
years  ago,  and  through  successive  statutes,  won  by  arduous 
agitation  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  the  principle  has  been 
made  widely  effective.  The  hundreds  of  prosperous  farms 
I  have  seen  during  this  tour,  where  seven  years  ago  I  saw 
empty  plains,  testify  eloquently  to  the  success  of  the  plan. 
But  most  of  these  improvements  have  been  made  through 
consent  of  the  landlords.  It  has  been  possible  for  the 
Estates  Commissioners  and  the  Congested  Districts  Board 
to  purchase  many  lands  and  resell  them  to  the  tenants 
because  the  landlords — whether  through  good  nature  or 
want  of  funds  or  sheer  weariness  with  the  endless  struggle 
against  public  opinion — have  agreed  to  dispose  of  their  huge 
holdings  to  the  authorities.  There  have  been,  however,  and 
are  still  many  landlords  who  remain  obdurate.  Thev  are 
rich,  and  money  does  not  tempt  them;  they  are  prejudiced, 
and  argument  does  not  move  them:  or  they  are  rapacious, 
and  fair  offers  do  not  satisfy  them.  Hence  they  cling  to 
their  broad  acres  of  fertile  land,  while  all  around  them,  or, 
at  least,  within  a  few  miles  of  their  domains.  land-hungry 
peasants  wear  cut  their  lives  in  a  hopeless  tight  with  poverty. 

The  land  bill  now  in  Parliament — presented  bv  the 
Liberal  government  after  consultation  with  the  Irish  Parlia- 
mentary Party — proposes  to  apply  the  obvious  remedy,  com- 
pulsory sale.    This  measure,  dealing  with  a  problem  so  vast 


THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


and  complex  as  the  Irish  land  question,  is  necessarily  com- 
plex itself;  but  its  main  intent  is  to  enlarge  the  powers  and 
increase  the  effectiveness  of  the  authorities  engaged  in  trans- 
ferring the  land  from  the  landlords  to  the  tenant  proprie- 
tors. We  shall  discuss  only  its  bearings  upon  the  work  of 
the  Congested  Districts  Boardo 

Besides  the  inability  to  enforce  sales  of  big  estates,  the 
boaid  has  been  hampered  by  the  fact  that  its  powers  were 
restricted  to  the  congested  districts  in  each  county  and  that 
it  could  not  operate  to  the  fullest  extent  outside  of  such  dis- 
tricts. Thus,  while  it  could  purchase  an  estate  offered  to  it 
outside  a  scheduled  district,  it  could  do  so  only  to  move  to 
that  land  inhabitants  of  a  scheduled  district.  It  could  do 
nothing  to  assist  occupiers  living  near  the  purchased  tract, 
though  they  might  be  poorer  in  fact  than  the  migrated  fam- 
ilies. The  unit  of  congestion,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the 
electoral  division  and  the  measure  of  congestion  the  average 
ratable  valuation.  The  very  poor  families  outside  a  district 
which  met  the  test  of  congestion  were  excluded  from  the 
benefits  of  land  purchase  because  the  high  value  of  the  lands 
around  them  kept  up  the  total  valuation.  Hence  such  fam- 
ilies might  see  others,  no  poorer  than  themselves,  brought 
from  a  distance  and  planted  on  good  lands  at  their  very 
doors,  while  they,  residents  of  the  locality,  could  not  be 
helped  at  all.  This  defect  the  new  land  bill  proposes  to 
remedy  by  making  the  county,  instead  of  the  electoral  divi- 
sion, the  unit.  Thus  the  Congested  Districts  Board  will 
have  power  to  operate  in  any  and  all  parts  of  the  nine  coun- 
ties in  which  there  are  congested  districts.  Cork  is  an  excep- 
tion, it  being  provided  that  the  four  rural  districts  of  Bantry, 
Castletown,  Schull  and  Skibbereen  shall  together  be 
regarded  as  a  congested  districts  county. 

The  advantage  of  this  change  will  be  enormous.  It 
will  bring  within  the  complete  operation  of  the  board  large 
areas  of  grazing  land  in  the  various  counties;  will  wipe  out 
the  artificial  boundaries  between  congested  and  technically 
uncongested  areas,  and  enable  the  board  to  deal  with  bad 
conditions  wherever  it  finds  them.  And,  of  course,  the 
granting  of  compulsory  powers  is  vital  to  a  successful  work- 
ing of  the  plan.    Under  the  bill  the  Congested  Districts 


CONGESTION  REMEDIED 


*43 


Board  will  have  the  right  to  purchase  any  large  estate, 
tenanted  or  untenanted,  in  any  of  the  counties  named,  the 
price,  when  voluntary  agreement  fails,  being  fixed  by  the 
Land  Commission  after  due  inquiry7.  Moreover,  the  board 
is  to  be  supreme  in  its  own  counties,  for  the  bill  provides  that 
no  estate  in  one  of  these  counties  shall  be  sold  under  the  Land 
Purchase  Acts  to  any  person — whether  the  tenants  or  the 
Land  Commission  itself — without  the  consent  of  the  board. 
The  need  for  this  is  plain.  Many  tenants,  in  their  eagerness 
to  own  land,  purchased  their  holdings  direct  from  the  land- 
lords, and  paid  too  much.  Also,  they  lost  the  benefit  of  the 
board's  expert  knowledge  in  rearranging  farm  boundaries 
and  its  improvement  works  in  the  way  of  roads,  fences, 
drains,  etc. 

Finally,  the  bill  increases  the  annual  income  of  the 
board  from  $431,000  to  $1,250,000,  which  will  mean 
bigger  projects  of  improvement,  more  well-built,  comfort- 
able homes,  more  happiness  and  prosperity  for  the  people 
whom  the  board  has  in  charge. 


XVI 


*THE  BRIGHTENED  LAND 

From  Castlerea,  County  Roscommon,  to  Caslicbar,  the 
county  seat  of  Mayo,  is  less  than  fifty  miles  as  the  crow  flies. 
By  the  route  which  I  traveled  the  distance  is  almost  three 
times  as  great.  Between  breakfast  in  Castlerea  and  dinner 
in  Castlebar  I  traveled  one  hundred  and  forty  miles  of 
country,  all  of  it  in  the  congested  districts,  where  lies  the 
most  acute  problem  of  the  land.  I  covered,  in  fact,  precisely 
the  same  ground  as  I  covered  seven  years  ago,  and  a  great 
deal  more.  For  the  purposes  of  the  comparison  which  I 
came  here  to  make  between  conditions  then  and  now,  I  have 
the  record  of  those  former  observations  and  the  evidence  of 
my  own  eyes  during  this  tour  through  the  same  territory. 
What  has  been  accomplished  has  already  been  discussed  in 
statistics  and  extracts  from  official  reports.  It  remains  now 
to  tell  the  story  in  description  of  what  has  actually  been  seen. 

There  is  no  guesswork  or  vague  theory  about  the 
results.  They  are  written  indelibly  across  the  face  of  the 
land — peace  and  plenty  where  I  had  seen  wretchedness  and 
want;  homes  where  there  was  desolation;  men  and  women 
who  had  been  starving  in  swamps  or  on  stony  hillsides  now 
living  in  comfort  and  contentment  on  fertile  farms  that  once 
were  grazing  ranches.  Not  all  the  scars  of  injustice  have 
been  healed.  This  could  not  be  accomplished  in  so  short  a 
space  of  time.  I  have  seen  some  haunts  of  misery  as 
wretched  as  any  of  those  which  were  described  in  1902. 
But  they  are  to  disappear.  All  around  them  the  work  has 
been  done.  The  scenes  of  poverty  are  isolated  amid  wide 
stretches  of  prosperity.  I  heard  the  promises  given  to  the 
patient  victims  of  adversity  that  their  turn  is  soon  to  come; 
that  in  time  they,  too,  will  know  the  blessings  of  real  homes 
and  the  inspiration  of  self-respecting  independence. 

*Chapters  XVI,  XVIT  and  XVIII  were  written  in  Castlebar, 
County  Mayo,  in  July,  1909. 

144 


THE  BRIGHTENED  LAND 


The  tour  which  seven  years  ago  was  made  by  jaunting 
car  was  made  to-day  by  automobile;  the-  thirty  miles  were 
expanded  to  a  hundred  and  forty.  The  fact  has  no  real 
significance,  yet  in  a  way  it  is  suggestive  of  change.  On  the 
former  occasion  it  seemed  as  though  a  wide  territory  had 
been  covered,  but  on  this  the  inspection  was  carried  a  hun- 
dred miles  further,  not  only  along  the  main  highways,  but 
through  countless  side  roads  and  little-traveled  lanes.  As 
the  automobile  which  was  used  was  the  property  of  the  Con- 
gested Districts  Board  and  carried  the  chief  officer  of  that 
body  on  an  official  tour,  it  had  a  vivid  suggestion  in  itself 
of  how  modern  aggressiveness  is  undoing  rapidly  and  thor- 
oughly the  wrongs  of  centuries  past. 

That  ride  I  took  from  Castlerea  with  sturdy  John  Fitz- 
gibbon  seven  years  ago  left  so  sharp  an  impression  that  the 
scene  as  we  started  on  this  second  trip  was  quite  familiar. 
The  gray,  unlovely  street — the  dwellers  in  small  Irish  towns 
have  had  too  harsh  a  struggle  to  achieve  civic  beauty — 
looked  just  the  same,  except  that  the  brightness  of  a  July 
morning  gave  warmer  tints  than  the  pale  sunlight  of 
November.  But  the  air  was  chill,  despite  the  season,  and 
as  the  car  sped  out  on  the  eastward  road,  skirting  the  gray, 
ivy-covered  wall  of  a  private  park,  a  keen  wind  sent  masses 
of  cloud  flying  across  the  blue  and  whipped  the  roadside 
ponds  that  gleamed  after  the  night's  rain. 

My  guide  knew  in  a  general  way  the  route  of  the 
former  trip  I  had  taken,  and  agreed  that  so  far  as  prac- 
ticable we  should  follow  it.  But  there  was  an  apt  coinci- 
dence in  the  fact  that  our  first  stop  was  precisely  the  same. 
There  was  a  simple  reason  for  this — it  provided  an  eminence 
from  which  we  could  get  a  panoramic  view  of  many  miles 
of  country.  Curiously  enough,  too,  at  no  point  in  the  trip 
was  there  presented  a  more  vivid  picture  of  the  changes 
wrought  in  Ireland  during  those  few  years.  From  that  very 
hill  one  may  see  the  story  that  justice  has  written  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  land.  This  may  suffice  as  an  apology  for  quot- 
ing what  was  written  of  this  scene  seven  years  ago : 

"From  the  top  of  a  fairy  mound,  whore  the  elves  dance  of  a 
summer's  night,  I  have  seen  the  Problem  of  the  Land  as  in  a  pic- 
ture ten  miles  wide,  '*   *    *   mile  on  mile  of  the  fairest  land  the 

10 


146        THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


Bftind  can  conceive,  rich  with  promise  of  fertility,  green  still  to  the 
very  verge  of  winter,  smiling,  beautiful — and  empty.  *  *  * 
Around  and  below  us,  on  every  side,  lay  the  country,  flooded  with 
the  pale  yellow  light  of  the  winter  sun.  The  view  embraced  eight 
or  ten  miles  in  all  directions,  a  rolling  green  plain  fading  away  into 
grassy  hills.  *  *  *  I  counted  ten  houses  within  vision  on  that 
great  stretch.  Each  had  two  or  three  acres  of  tilled  ground.  The 
rest  was  grass.  The  only  living  things  in  sight  were  tiny  scattered 
flocks  of  sheep  and  herds  of  cattle.   Mr.  Fitzgibbon  translated. 

"  'We  are  overlooking  several  estates,'  he  said;  'BalfT,  Irwin, 
Sandford,  Murphy — corners  of  all  of  them  are  in  sight.  Oh,  yes, 
there  were  farms  here  once,  hundreds  of  them.  But  all  the  people 
are  evicted.  They  emigrated  to  America,  or  moved,  or  died.  The 
dozen  or  so  farms  you  see  are  held  by  men  with  long  leases.  They 
are  prosperous,  though  the  rents  are  very  high.  The  others — there 
was  no  help  for  them.  The  great  clearing  out  started  at  the  time 
of  the  famine  fifty  years  ago.  The  people  could  not  get  enough  to 
eat,  let  alone  money  for  the  landlords.  Then  the  world  demanded 
cattle,  and  the  landlords  decided  to  turn  these  fertile  lands  into 
grazing  ranches.  That  doomed  those  who  had  fought  their  way 
through  the  famine.    So  they  all  went.'    *    *  * 

"Leaving  Mullaghaduhy  hill,  our  course  lay  off  to  the  south- 
ward, over  low,  rolling  hills  and  long  meadows.  The  surrounding 
scene  was  still  the  same.  Beyond  the  low  stone  walls  skirting  the 
road  lay  miles  of  green  fields,  with  not  a  sign  of  farm  or  crops. 
Every  few  miles  a  thatched  house  stood  by  the  roadside,  with  a 
tiny  patch  of  vegetable  garden  and  a  cluster  of  hayricks,  brown  in 
the  sun.  These  were  the  huts  of  the  herders.  Each  man  had  two 
hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred  acres  under  his  care. 

"  'That's  it,'  said  Mr.  Fitzgibbon,  'the  best  land  in  Roscommon, 
fit  to  support  thousands.  And  on  land  where  ten  families  might 
live  in  decent  comfort  the  only  occupants  are  cattle,  a  man  and  a 
dog.  A  man  and  a  dog!  Not  a  crop  on  twenty  miles  of  it — and 
the  people  wanting  for  food  over  yonder.' 

"As  we  had  driven  along  I  had  noticed  peculiar  formations  in 
the  ground  here  and  there.  Across  the  fields  lay  low  ridges,  some- 
times two  or  three  hundred  yards  long.  In  some  places  they  looked 
like  lines  of  grass,  in  others  they  melted  into  the  level  ground. 
They  were  gras3  grown.    I  asked  what  they  were. 

"  'The  remains  of  walls  and  ditches  of  the  old  farms,'  answered 
Mr.  Fitzgibbon.  'You'll  find  them  all  over  these  lands.  When  the 
tenants  were  evicted  the  walls  were  thrown  down  and  grass  grew 
over  the  places.  You  will  see  here  and  there  a  clump  or  row  of 
trees.  They  mark  where  the  farmhouses  vised  to  stand.  The  houses 
were  leveled,  and  the  walls  that  inclose  the  road  we  are  now  on 
were  built  of  stones  that  once  sheltered  evicted  tenants.' 

"It  was  ghastly.  I  began  to  see  these  marks  of  devastation 
everywhere.  The  fields  on  all  sides  were  scarred  with  the  green 
ridges,  as  though  the  whip  of  oppression  had  left  great  welts  on  the 
surface  of  the  land.  In  two  or  three  places  we  came  upo'n  the 
crumbling  ruins  of  houses  which  for  some  reason  had  not  been 
carried  away.  There  was  one  of  which  the  four  walls  still  stood, 
with  the  chimney,  though  the  roof  had  disappeared  years  ago.  We 


NOT  PRETTY,  BUT  COMFORTABLE. 


THE  BRIGHTENED  LAND 


147 


could  still  trace  the  outlines  of  a  little  garden  and  the  remnants  of 
a  stable.  A  hare  scampered  away  as  I  peered  through  a  gaping 
hole  where  there  had  been  a  window." 

So  the  story  ran,  as  simple  and  accurate  a  description 
as  I  could  write  of  the  desolation  I  had  seen  from  the 
top  of  this  very  mound  and  in  a  short  drive  from  it.  The 
scene  came  back  vividly  as  I  climbed  the  little  eminence. 
And  I  looked  upon  it  again — the  same  land,  but  so  mar- 
velously  different!  Leaning  against  the  wind  that  came 
booming  over  leagues  of  rolling  plain,  we  looked  off  east, 
north  and  south.  It  was  one  great  farm;  not  one  actually, 
but  one  in  the  rich  beauty  of  fertility  and  busy  cultivation. 
Where  I  had  seen  thousands  of  acres  of  empty  grass  lands, 
tenanted  only  by  roaming  cattle.  I  saw  now  a  wide  plain 
carpeted  with  fields  of  growing  crops.  Where  I  had  counted 
ten  houses — the  meager,  thatched  huts  of  poor  herders — I 
counted  thirty,  forty,  fifty — one  for  every  quarter  mile  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  reach. 

Good  houses  they  were,  too,  standing  square  and  trim 
in  the  sun — sturdily  built  of  stone,  gleaming  with  white- 
wash, topped  with  strong  slate  roofs.  Around  each  house 
lay  neatly  walled  fields,  patches  of  living  green  in  every 
shade — the  pale  shimmer  of  oats,  the  rich  color  of  potato 
plants,  the  slaty  green  of  cabbages.  Near  each  dwelling  was 
a  little  group  of  outhouses  for  the  cattle,  with  a  pile  of 
brown  turf  against  one  wall.  The  dooryards  gleamed  with 
bright  flowers. 

"And  all  this  has  been  done  in  seven  years!"  I  said. 

"Less  than  that,"  said  the  officer  of  the  Congested  Dis- 
tricts Board.  "This  district  has  been  'settled'  for  nearly 
two  years.  Within  sight  are  more  than  2000  acres  of  land, 
made  up  of  parts  of  several  estates.  This  tract  was  virtually 
empty.  It  was  used,  as  you  know,  for  big  grazing  ranches. 
Now  you  can  see  the  homes  of  one  hundred  families. 
Roughly,  five  hundred  persons  have  been  lifted  from  hope- 
less poverty  and  made  independent  in  this  single  section 
under  your  eye." 

I  looked  again  across  the  wide  plain,  which  had  been 
so  vacant  and  now  glowed  with  life.  From  chimneys  here 
and  there  smoke  was  whipping  in  the  wind.    In  a  field  a 


148       '  THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

quarter  of  a  mile  away  two  men  were  cultivating  potatoes, 
moving  down  the  rows  with  steady,  rhythmic  movements. 
Along  a  road  jolted  three  carts,  piled  high  with  turf  from 
a  distant  bog.  At  the  door  of  a  cottage  near  the  foot  of  the 
hill  stood  a  woman,  shading  her  eyes  with  her  hand  as  she 
looked  after  a  group  of  children  on  their  way  to  school,  and 
down  the  wind  came  the  sound  of  the  fresh  young  voices, 
laughing  and  singing. 

Having  studied  attentively  some  hundreds  of  pages  of 
official  reports  bristling  with  statistical  information,  I  was 
fairly  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the  improvement 
made  during  the  last  seven  years  by  the  Congested  Districts 
Board.  But,  after  all,  figures  are  not  the  most  effective  evi- 
dence. The  sight  of  one  trim,  comfortable  home  where 
there  had  been  a  wretched  hovel,  or  of  a  dozen  prosperous 
farms  where  there  had  been  empty  pastures,  carries  more 
conviction  than  a  ream  of  dry  statistics.  I  accepted  the 
official  reports  as  a  matter  of  course.  I  learned  from  them 
that  so  many  thousand  acres  had  been  purchased  from  the 
landlords  and  resold  to  the  tenants;  that  so  many  thousand 
families  had  been  lifted  from  poverty  to  independence; 
that  so  many  millions  of  dollars  had  been  expended  for 
estates,  for  road  building,  for  drainage,  for  new  houses 
and  other  improvements.  These  facts  were  striking,  and 
bore  sufficient  testimony  that  the  poorer  districts  of  Ireland 
are  benefiting  by  a  remarkable  economic  revolution — the 
making  of  the  helpless  tenants  into  independent  landholders. 
But  until  I  stood  on  this  hill  and  looked  over  that  wide,  fer- 
tile plain,  dotted  with  the  homes  of  nearly  a  hundred  fami- 
lies, I  had  but  faintly  realized  what  the  imposing  array  of 
figures  meant.  Until  then  I  had  not  understood  the  accuracy 
of  John  Dillon's  statement:  uThe  whole  face  of  the  land 
has  been  changed. " 

Vivid  as  was  the  story  told  by  this  bird's-eye  view,  how- 
ever, I  wanted  to*  learn  some  details.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
in  one  of  the  houses  I  might  find  evidence  more  convincing 
than  any  description  of  conditions  now  as  contrasted  with 
conditions  seven  years  ago.  I  made  this  suggestion  to  the 
officer  of  the  Congested  Districts  Board  who  was  my  guide. 


THE  BRIGHTENED  LAND  149 

"Select  any  house  in  sight,"  he  said,  "and  go  and  talk 

to  the  family. " 

We  came  down  from  the  hill,  climbed  the  wall  and 

-  • 

descended  by  a  rocky  lane  to  the  plain.  I  chose  the  first 
house  we  reached.  It  was  two  stories  high,  built  strongly 
of  stone,  with  a  slate  roof.  Plain  beyond  the  point  of 
severity,  it  had  not  a  single  hint  of  beauty  or  art  to  recom- 
mend it.  The  government  has  undertaken  a  work  so  vast 
that  it  has  deemed  it  wise  not  to  expend  energy  or  money  in 
producing  artistic  dwellings.  This  seems  a  pity,  for  surely 
there  is  an  economic  value  in  beauty,  and  the  housing  of  the 
people  in  buildings  of  such  forbidding  plainness  tends  to 
discourage  aspirations  toward  higher  things.  But  this 
seemed  a  very  subordinate  issue  when  I  remembered  the 
squalor  and  misery  in  which  these  people  were  living  a  few 
short  years  ago.  The  house  stood  about  fifty  feet  from  the 
road,  the  "front  yard"  filled  with  growing  cabbages  of  enor- 
mous size.  We  passed  around  one  end,  and  at  the  back 
door  were  greeted  cheerily  by  a  little  woman  of  middle  age 
but  youthful  spirits.  She  came  out,  wiping  her  hands  on  her 
apron,  beaming  with  welcome  and  smiling  proudly  when  we 
asked  permission  to  look  around  her  place. 

"Indeed  sir,''  she  said,  "I'D  be  glad  to  have  you  see. 
Sure  we're  no.  as  tidy  as  we  might  be  to-day.  but  we're  com- 
fortable, and  that's  much." 

She  walked  with  us  to  the  end  of  the  yard — it  was 
paved  with  cobblestones — and  showed  us  the  stable  and 
other  outhouses.  These,  too,  were  of  stone  and  slate 
roofed.  At  one  end  of  the  stable  was  a  huge  pile  of  turf, 
three  months'  supply  of  fuel.  At  the  other  end  was  a  con- 
crete pig  sty. 

"Where  you  formerly  lived,"  I  suggested,  "you  had 
no  such  arrangement  as  this?  You  kept  the  cattle  in  the 
house?" 

A  shadow  passed  over  her  face. 

uWe  did,  sir.  We  did  that.  But  God  knows  it  was  no 
fault  of  ours.  We  lived  as  we  could,  and  it  was  bad  living. 
It  was  four  miles  from  here,  ten  acres  of  hillside,  that  my 
man  and  I  and  the  children  had  to  pick  the  stones  out  of 
with  our  hands.    We  never  had  a  crop  that  would  keep  food 


i$o 


THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


in  our  stomachs  for  a  year.  Every  summer  my  man  and  the 
big  boys  had  to  go  to  England  and  do  farm  work  to  get 
enough  money  for  the  rent  and  to  carry  us  through  the 
winter.    Now,  you  see  " 

She  pointed  at  the  house  and  then  at  the  fields  which 
climbed  the  slope.  A  quarter  of  a  mile  away  the  husband 
and  son  could  be  seen,  up  to  their  waists  among  the  dark 
green  of  the  potato  plants,  working  steadily — and  working, 
not  for  another,  but  for  themselves. 

"It  is  all  different,"  she  said,  simply.  "And,  please 
God,  it  will  stay  different." 

"What  rent  did  you  pay?"  I  asked. 

"Three  pounds  a  year.  This  was  for  ten  acres  of 
worthless  land  and  the  bit  of  a  house — a  wretched  house, 
sir — I'm  sick  now  to  think  of  it." 

"And  now?" 

"Now,  sir,  we  have  twenty-six  acres  of  land,  all  of  it 
raising  good  crops.  We  have  two  cows  and  a  calf,  a  pig 
with  a  growing  litter  and  forty  chickens.  For  the  house 
and  stable  and  land  we  pay  £20  a  year.  This  is  not  rent, 
you  see,  sir.  We're  buying  the  whole  place.  We'll  be  land 
owners  ourselves,"  and  she  smiled  happily. 

Here  was  a  difference.  This  family,  living  in  unspeak- 
able poverty,  were  able  to  pay  $15  a  year  and  feed  them- 
selves only  by  sending  the  stronger  members  to  England 
every  year.  Now  they  were  living  well,  in  a  comfortable 
house  instead  of  a  hovel,  with  plenty  of  good,  nourishing 
food,  and  were  paying  $100  a  year,  not  for  rent,  but  in 
purchase  instalments. 

"Are  you  satisfied  you  can  pay  six  or  seven  times  as 
much  as  before?"  I  asked.  "Isn't  that  a  big  burden  to 
assume?" 

"Sure,  sir,  we'll  do  it,  please  God.  We  came  well 
through  the  first  year,  though  we  lost  a  calf  that  broke  its 
leg  in  a  gate.  'Tis  a  hard  struggle,  but  we  don't  look  for 
ease.  We  are  working  for  ourselves,  do  you  see,  and  that 
makes  it  better." 

We  went  into  the  house,  passing  the  concrete  chicken 
house  built  against  the  outside  of  the  chimney,  so  that  the 
fowls  have  the  benefit  of  the  warmth  in  winter.    At  one  side 


THE  BRIGHTENED  LAND  151 

of  the  back  entrance  was  a  small  room  used  as  a  dairy.  We 
entered  the  main  living  room,  kitchen  and  dining  room  in 
one.  It  was  lighted  by  a  large  window.  The  concrete  floor 
was  spotlessly  clean  and  the  room  held  substantial  furniture. 
On  a  dresser  against  the  wall  were  dishes  and  a  gleaming 
array  of  pots  and  pans.  There  was  no  range,  but  in  the  big 
fireplace  a  pile  of  turf  glowed,  ample  for  giving  warmth  and 
for  cooking.  In  a  wooden  cradle  of  the  old-fashioned  "ark" 
shape  a  baby  slept  peacefully,  a  cat  curled  up  at  its  feet.  A 
tall,  shy  girl,  barefooted,  was  drying  dishes.  Three  other 
children  played  on  the  floor. 

"Twelve  children,"  said  the  mother,  cheerfully.  "Ah, 
they're  a  great  comfort  to  us.  The  two  oldest  boys  are  on 
the  works  (employed  by  the  Congested  Districts  Board  on 
road  building  or  drainage),  the  third  is  out  in  the  potatoes 
with  his  father,  one  is  away  to  market  and  three  are  at 
school." 

From  this  living  room  opened  another,  in  which  the 
woman  had  made  some  effort  to  create  the  atmosphere  of  a 
parlor.  A  stairway  led  to  the  second  floor,  where  there  were 
three  bedrooms. 

As  we  walked  out  to  the  gate  the  Congested  Districts 
officer  talked  encouragingly  to  the  woman  of  improvements 
that  might  be  made  in  the  homestead.    She  assented  eagerly. 

"Ah,  your  Honor,  we'll  try  so  hard,  indeed  we  will. 
But  it's  a  struggle,  with  twelve  children." 

"But  you  must  fight  it  out,"  was  the  advice.  "YouVe 
got  a  start  now,  and  you're  doing  ever  so  much  better  than 
before.  You  must  try  to  live  up  to  your  new  opportunities. 
The  government  has  made  this  chance  for  you;  it  can  do 
nothing  more.  The  future  is  in  your  own  hands.  You  must 
keep  yourself  afloat.    It's  sink  or  swim  now  M 

"And  it'll  be  'swim,'  your  Honor,"  cried  the  little 
woman,  heartily.  "Please  God,  we'll  make  a  home  here 
that  the  children  '11  be  proud  of.  Sure,  I  don't  complain  of 
the  work.  When  I  think  of  that  place  we  left,  and  the  fine 
little  farm  we  have  now,  it  gives  me  heart  to  go  on.  We'll 
do  better,  and  never  worse,  please  God." 

So  we  left  her,  as  she  turned  back  to  her  work  with  a 
prayer  on  her  lips. 


XVII 


THINGS  SEEN 

In  the  one-hundred-and-forty-mile  trip  through  typical 
sections  of  the  congested  districts  the  writer  had  every 
opportunity  for  examining  at  close  range  the  remarkable 
work  that  has  been  done  toward  ameliorating  the  condition 
of  the  inhabitants  of  a  large  territory.  Now,  as  seven  years 
ago,  he  used  not  second-hand  information,  but  the  evidence 
of  his  own  eyes.  Then  he  told  of  poverty  and  helplessness 
and  injustice  which  he  actually  witnessed;  now  he  describes 
upon  the  same  basis  of  ocular  demonstration  conditions  of 
prosperity  and  comfort  and  hope  in  identically  the  same  sec- 
tions of  the  country.  To  show  the  extent  and  thoroughness 
of  this  investigation,  I  shall  set  down  a  brief,  consecutive 
record  of  the  tour  I  made,  with  the  chief  land  inspector  of 
the  Congested  Districts  Board  at  my  side  to  explain  the 
meaning  of  every  piece  of  work  accomplished,  under  way  or 
projected. 

Leaving  Castlerea,  County  Roscommon,  our  motor  car 
traveled  About  four  miles  ill  a  southeasterly  direction. 
Reaching  Mullaghaduhy  hill,  we  had  a  view,  as  already 
described,  of  several  miles  of  land,  formerly  grazing 
ranches,  upon  which  nearly  one  hundred  families  have  been 
placed.  These  families  were  brought — "migrated"  is  the 
official  term — distances  varying  from  four  to  twenty  miles. 
They  had  occupied  miserable  bog  and  hillside  holdings, 
where  even  the  most  heart-breaking  labor  could  not  produce 
enough  to  support  them.  Placed  on  these  fertile  lands,  in 
neat,  comfortable  houses  built  for  them,  they  are  paying 
their  own  way,  and  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives  know  the 
life-giving  joy  of  independence.  For  it  must  be  understood 
that  there  is  no  mushy  philanthropy  about  this  great  eco- 

152 


THINGS  SEEN 


153 


nomic  work.  The  wise  men — Irishmen  all — who  compose 
the  Congested  Districts  Board  have  neither  the  power  nor 
the  desire  to  pauperize  these  victims  of  the  villainous  old  land 
system.  A  chance — that  is  all  the  tenants  get  when  they  are 
created  land  owners.  It  is  true,  that  certain  works,  which 
are  not  directly  reproductive,  are  paid  for  out  of  the  income 
of  the  board;  but  very  nearly  all  of  such  expenditures, 
such  as  for  drainage  and  buildings,  are  charged  to  the 
land  as  it  is  sold  to  the  tenants.  The  cost  is  added  to  the 
sale  price  and  repaid  in  the  yearly  instalments  of  purchase 
money.  Besides  the  opportunity  to  make  a  decent  living, 
the  new  land  owners  have  the  consciousness  that  they  are 
receiving  no  gift  of  government  charity,  but  by  their  labor 
under  just  conditions  are  paying  for  their  farms,  the  build- 
ings and  all  improvements. 

Swinging  to  the  north  through  the  little  village  of 
Castleplunket,  the  car  passed  through  good  farming  land  to 
the  town  of  Bellanagare,  and  a  mile  or  so  to  the  southeast 
of  that  point  brought  us  to  Rathnallog.  Here  the  opera- 
tions of  the  board  were  seen  in  a  different  phase.  A  big 
estate  had  been  cut  up  into  small  farms,  and  upon  each  hold- 
ing was  being  erected  a  slate-roofed  house  of  stone,  with 
trim  outbuildings.  In  this  one  section  twenty-two  houses 
are  in  course  of  erection,  some  of  them  being  almost  ready 
for  occupancy.  Returning  through  Bellanagare,  the  course 
lay  northwest  to  Frenchpark,  through  sections  of  the  great 
Dillon,  Murphy  and  de  Freyne  estates.  These  large  prop- 
erties were  purchased  several  years  ago  by  the  board,  and 
the  work  has  created  decent  living  conditions  for  several 
thousand  families  who  had  existed  in  helpless  poverty. 

Not  in  every  case,  it  must  be  understood,  can  the  board 
confer  an  adequate  amount  of  land.  Congestion  of  popula- 
tion in  some  districts  is  a  stern  fact  which  cannot  be  over- 
come. But  in  these  cases  the  rearrangement  of  scattered 
holdings  into  compact  farms;  the  draining  of  wet  land;  the 
building  of  roads  into  districts  lacking  easy  access  to  mar- 
kets, and  the  assistance  of  holders  toward  improving  the 
condition  of  the  houses  and  outbuildings  have  worked  a 
marvelous  improvement.  In  passing,  we  may  get  an  idea 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  work  by  examining  the  records  in 


154 


THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


the  case  of  the  three  estates  just  mentioned — Dillon,  Mur- 
phy and  de  Freyne.    Here  are  the  figures: 


Acreage,  tenanted,  at  time  of  purchase   123,440 

Acreage,  untenanted,  including  bog   11,878 

Acreage,  total   135,318 


Rent  that  was  paid  annually  by  tenants   $157,370 

Number  of  tenants   5,961 

Purchase  price  paid  by  board,  unimproved....  $2,712,455 
Expended- by  board  for  improvements   $703,090 


A  little  northwest  of  Frenchpark  we  left  the  main  road 
and  ran  a  short  distance  to  Callow.  Here  we  saw  a  large 
area  of  grass  land  which  in  June,  1909,  was  divided  into 
holdings.  Within  sight  twenty  or  thirty  houses  were  in 
course  of  erection,  and  scores  of  men  and  teams  were  busy 
cutting  roads  into  the  heart  of  the  tract  for  the  use  of  the 
farmers.  Within  four  months  every  one  of  the  houses  was 
to  be  occupied.  Coming  back  to  the  main  road  and  travel- 
ing westward,  we  inspected  a  remarkable  bit  of  engineering 
work  on  the  Lung  river.  To  drain  some  wet  land,  the  board 
has  diverted  the  river  into  a  new  channel.  After  passing 
Ballaghaderreen  the  course  lay  southwest  and  then  west 
nearly  to  Kilkelly.  Here,  in  the  townlands  of  Tavraun  and 
Glentavraun,  I  saw  seventy-five  new  houses,  erected  during 
the  last  two  years.  This  group  constitutes  another  phase  of 
the  board's  work,  upon  which  I  have  not  yet  touched.  The 
houses  were  not  built  by  the  board,  but  by  the  landholders 
themselves,  under  the  board's  direction.  Only  small  loans 
were  made,  but  the  trifling  assistance  given  had  stirred  the 
landholders  to  help  themselves  to  this  extent.  The  seventy- 
five  houses  offered  eloquent  testimony  to  the  ambition  and 
industry  of  the  farmers  when  an  opportunity  for  betterment 
by  their  own  labor  is  offered  to  them. 

Thence  the  car  ran  due  north  to  Charlestown,  from 
which  place  we  made  a  circuit  of  ten  or  fifteen  miles  in  the 
open  country.  Two  interesting  features  presented  them- 
selves on  this  detour.  One  was  the  deepening  of  the  Curry 
river  for  drainage  purposes,  the  other  a  hamlet  of  poor 
houses,  where  the  wretched  conditions  I  saw  seven  years 
ago  still  exist,  the  board  having  been  unable  as  yet  to  acquire 
decent  lands  for  the  tenants.    A  straight  run  westward 


at  \*f 


THINGS  SEEN 


155 


through  the  Swinford  district  brought  us  to  Foxford, 
where  a  notable  feature  is  the  woolen  factory  conducted  as 
a  successful  commercial  enterprise  by  Sisters  of  Charity. 
Climbing  through  the  rugged  mountains  that  surround 
Lough  Cullen,  we  crossed  the  narrow  strip  of  land  which 
separates  it  from  Lough  Conn,  amid  scenery  as  wildly  beau- 
tiful as  can  be  found  in  all  Ireland,  and  thence  ran  easily 
down  to  Castlebar. 

Next  morning,  before  starting  eastward  again,  we 
made  a  ten-mile  detour  to  the  southwest  of  Castlebar  to 
visit  a  colony  of  "migrants"  who  have  been  settled  in  their 
new  places  for  eight  or  nine  years.  Here  I  saw  the  mar- 
velous work  of  the  board  in  full  fruition.  The  land  is  poor 
— it  was  impossible  to  find  better  land  in  the  neighborhood 
for  those  who  needed  it — but  the  people  have  made  a  brave 
fight  for  themselves,  and  they  have  won.  The  little  farms 
were  bright  with  growing  crops,  the  houses  gleaming  with 
paint  and  whitewash.  Few  that  I  saw  lacked  beds  of 
flowers  in  the  dooryards,  and  many  had  climbing  roses  that 
reached  the  eaves.  The  cattle  looked  sleek  and  well  fed. 
School  houses  that  we  passed  were  filled  with  rosy-cheeked, 
bare-footed  children.  The  problem  has  been  settled  and 
settled  right.  The  people  got  their  chance,  and  they  are 
living  up  to  it.  Not  one  has  failed  to  make  his  purchase 
payments.  Where  there  were  poverty  and  wretchedness 
under  the  system  of  landlordism  there  are  peace  and  content- 
ment under  the  system  of  ownership. 

One  photograph  I  took  in  this  neighborhood  will  illus- 
trate the  story  of  what  the  land  reformation  means  when  it 
is  completed.  The  board  built  for  a  man  for  whom  it  pro- 
vided a  farm  one  of  the  serviceable  but  hopelessly  plain 
houses.  He  moved  into  it,  with  his  family,  and  cheerfully 
undertook  to  pay,  in  purchase  instalments,  six  times  as  much 
annually  as  he  had  paid  in  rent  for  a  stony  strip  of  hillside. 
Once  he  was  settled  there,  under  contract  to  the  govern- 
ment, supervision  and  advice  were  withdrawn.  That  is  the 
invariable  rule.  The  board  is  paternalism  personified  in  its 
operations,  but  the  paternalism  is  of  a  Spartan  character. 
There  is  no  coddling,  no  fussy  interference  or  officious  offers 
of  aid.    The  board  has  a  deliberate  policy  to  let  each  family, 


1 56        THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

once  placed  on  the  road  to  self-support,  work  out  its  own 
economic  salvation,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  know  that  in 
every  single  case  I  investigated  the  men  and  women  con- 
cerned were  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  arrangement. 

This  man,  then,  with  his  family,  found  himself  pos- 
sessed of  twenty-two  acres  of  fairly  decent  land,  with  a 
section  of  bog  from  which  he  could  cut  turf  for  fuel;  a 
comfortable  but  rather  ugly  house  and  the  necessary  out- 
buildings for  a  small  farm.  These  were  to  be  his  own,  upon 
certain  yearly  payments,  less  than  the  rent  he  had  paid  for 
7  a  wretched  hovel  on  the  hill.  He  might  have  been  content 
with  the  place  as  it  was.  It  sheltered  his  family,  and  that 
is  what  a  house  is  primarily  for.  During  all  the  years  they 
lived  in  the  thatched  hut  they  had  never  had  the  money  or 
the  heart  to  make  an  improvement.  There  was  no  incen- 
tive. In  the  new  environment,  however,  it  was  different 
Within  two  years  the  man  had  built  a  porch,  with  a  window, 
at  the  front  door.  This  alone  added  fifty  per  cent,  to  the 
attractiveness  of  the  place.  Lace  curtains  appeared  at  the 
windows.  The  frowsy  front  yard  was  plowed  up  and  beds 
of  flowers  planted.  A  neat  hedge  was  set  out  along  the 
road,  and  climbing  roses  made  patches  of  color  against  the 
.walls.  When  I  saw  this  place  it  was  as  trim  and  attractive 
as  many  a  prosperous  American  farmhouse.  Said  the  Con- 
gested Districts  Board  man : 

"I  am  prouder  of  things  like  that,  with  which  we  have 
had  nothing  directly  to  do,  than  of  any  of  the  projects  which 
we  undertake  for  the  people  themselves.  It  is  a  great  thing  to 
build  roads  and  fences  and  drains  and  houses;  it  is  a  greater 
thing  to  stir  the  ambition  of  helpless  people  and  to  see  how 
their  spirit  expands  under  the  sunshine  of  opportunity.  We 
gave  that  man  a  chance,  that's  all.  The  house  was  a  mere 
shelter  when  he  got  it — weatherproof  and  comfortable,  but 
wholly  lacking  in  beauty.  You  see  what  he  has  made  of 
it — a  pretty  home.  He  has  done  all  that  himself,  without 
even  a  suggestion  from  us.  The  effect  upon  his  own  family, 
upon  his  children,  must  be  obvious.  But  it  has  its  effect 
upon  the  whole  neighborhood.  In  time  every  house  within 
sight  will  be  improved.  The  example  is  irresistible.  After 
all,  what  we  do,  valuable  as  the  work  is,  is  merely  prepara- 


THINGS  SEEN 


i57 


tory.  We  help  a  little,  but  the  big  thing  is  that  we  teach 
the  people  to  help  themselves.  And  it  is  encouraging  to  see 
how  quickly  and  vigorously  they  grasp  the  lesson  and  put  it 
into  practice." 

Next  day  a  run  to  Kiltimagh  and  around  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  thence  to  Claremorris,  completed  the  tour. 

In  this  tour  of  the  congested  districts  I  traversed  many 
miles  of  country,  almost  every  acre  of  which  bears  marks  of 
the  huge  schemes  of  improvement  which  the  Congested  Dis- 
tricts Board  is  carrying  out.  The  transfer  of  families  from 
worthless  land  to  fertile  farms ;  the  rearrangement  of  hold- 
ings in  compact  form,  instead  of  the  scattered  patches 
resulting  from  many  years  of  complicated  customs  of 
tenure;  the  driving  of  roads  into  inaccessible  tracts;  the 
building  of  drainage  works,  which  permit  the  reclamation 
of  wret  lands;  the  erection  of  sanitary  dwellings  and  out- 
buildings— all  these  enterprises  combined  have  worked  a 
marvelous  change. 

Nowhere  in  the  world,  perhaps,  has  there  been  the 
application  of  a  more  elaborate  system  of  paternalism;  for 
no  other  method  could  cope  with  the  conditions  fostered  by 
centuries  of  injustice.  But  the  paternalism  has  been  of  a 
highly  intelligent  character,  and  strict  regulations,  rigidly 
enforced,  have  made  it  a  stimulus  instead  of  a  deterrent  to 
individual  effort  and  self-support.  Reference  has  been 
made  to  the  large  number  of  new  houses  erected  for  tenants 
who  have  been  made  owners  of  new  lands.  This  constitutes 
a  very  important  part  of  the  board's  work,  but  it  is  only  a 
part.  It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  transformation  of 
this  unfortunate  district  of  Ireland  is  due  in  great  measure 
to  the  ambition  and  energy  of  the  people  themselves,  stimu- 
lated by  the  assistance  and  supervision  of  the  board.  We 
passed,  for  instance,  a  trim  little  farmhouse  which  was  obvi- 
ously a  home^of  comfort  and  prosperity,  and  I  congratu- 
lated the  officer  of  the  board  upon  this  evidence  of  effective 
work.  With  far  more  pride  than  he  had  pointed  out  opera- 
tions of  the  board  itself  he  explained  that  this  neat  little 
home  had  been  built  by  a  man  who  formerly  had  occupied 
a  wretched  hovel. 


158         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


"There  was  little  that  we  could  do  for  him,"  he  said. 
"There  was  no  land  available  to  which  he  could  be  migrated. 
But  we  rearranged  the  holdings  in  the  district  and  provided 
him  with  a  compact  farm  equal  in  area  and  value  to  the 
thirty-five  scattered  patches  that  he  had  rented  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. Also,  we  made  a  main  drain,  which  gave  this 
man  and  others  in  the  district  an  outfall  into  which  he  could 
carry  his  own  short  drains,  and  so  improve  the  quality  of  his 
land.  As  to  the  house,  it  should  be  understood  that  the 
board  does  not  erect  new  dwellings  except  for  migrants 
moved  into  new  districts  or  in  cases  where  the  rearrange- 
ment of  holdings  makes  it  necessary  to  remove  houses;  then 
others  are  built  for  the  purchasers. 

"But  in  this  case,  the  house  being  conveniently  situated 
upon  the  rearranged  farm,  improvement  or  replacing  of  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  holder.  The  board  prepared  the  plans, 
made  a  small  advance  and  supervised  the  work,  and  the 
money  advanced  was  added  to  the  sale  price  of  the  holding. 
In  other  words,  the  man  will  pay  a  small  additional  sum 
in  the  purchase  annuity,  and  so  in  time  liquidate  not  only 
the  cost  of  the  land,  but  of  the  new  house  and  the  outbuild- 
ings as  well. 

"The  work  was  all  done  by  himself  and  men  whom  he 
could  get  to  work  for  him.  Usually  the  board's  advance 
covers  the  manufactured  material  necessary,  such  as  dressed 
lumber,  slate  and  hardware.  The  rough  material,  such  as 
stone,  sand,  etc.,  as  well  as  the  labor,  is  supplied  by  the 
new  owner." 

There  are,  in  fact,  four  general  plans  in  operation,  which 
are  responsible  for  the  astonishing  improvements  which  have 
brightened  the  land  and  the  lives  of  the  people  in  the  con- 
gested districts  during  the  last  few  years.    These  are : 

First — Erection  by  the  board  of  new  houses  and  out- 
buildings for  migrants  moved  to  new  land,  or  where  such 
work  is  made  necessary  by  rearrangement  of  holdings. 
Part  of  the  cost  of  improvements  is  added  to  farm's  pur- 
chase price,  and  repaid  by  the  tenant  purchaser  in  small 
annual  payments. 

Second — Free  grants  of  money  by  the  board  to  parish 
committees,  which  in  turn  distribute  the  money  to  poor  land- 


THINGS  SEEN 


159 


holders  for  prizes  for  improvement  works.  These  grants 
are  not  repayable. 

Third — Loans  and  free  grants  by  board  to  tenant  pur- 
chasers who  desire  to  make  improvements  on  their  holdings 
while  the  estate  is  in  the  board's  hands.  Loans  are  repay- 
able. 

Fourth — Loans  to  tenant  purchasers  owning  lands 
which  form  part  of  estates  which  have  passed  out  of  the 
board's  hands  to  the  new  owners.    These  are  repayable. 

"No  means  adopted  by  the  board,"  said  the  chief 
Oiiicial,  "is  likely  to  have  such  an  elevating  effect  upon  the 
home  life  of  the  people  as  the  operation  of  these  house 
improvement  schemes.  Poor  landholders  over  a  consider- 
able area  of  the  congested  districts  have  eagerly  availed 
themselves  of  the  advantages  offered.  Thousands  of  homes 
which  were  unfit  for  human  habitation  because  of  their 
damp,  cold,  dirt  floors  and  fixed  windows,  and  because  of  the 
practice  of  keeping  cattle  in  the  dwellings,  have  been  made 
comfortable  and  sanitary.  Removal  of  the  cattle  from  the 
houses  and  of  the  manure  pit  from  close  proximity  to  the 
dwelling  is  imperatively  demanded  before  any  assistance 
will  be  given.  Slate  roofs  are  substituted  for  thatch,  con- 
crete kitchen  floors  and  board  bedroom  floors  for  the  deadly 
dirt  and  movable,  double-sash  windows  for  the  old  immov- 
able kind.  In  short,  where  the  erection  of  an  entirely  new 
dwelling  was  not  called  for,  or  was  impracticable,  the  old 
house  has  been  quite  transformed  and  made  not  only 
decently  habitable,  but  really  comfortable." 

I  have  learned  that  under  the  four  plans  referred  to 
above  the  following  is  the  record  to  March  31  of  this  year: 

Improvements  Expended 
executed.         by  board. 


Plan  No.  1   1,348  $498,750 

Plan  No.  2   26,983  245,320 

Plan  No.  3   7,800  366,100 

Plan  No.  4   196  13,470 


Totals    36,327  $1,123,640 


The  first  plan — the  erection  of  new  buildings  by  the 
board — has  already  been  discussed  at  some  length  in  preced- 
ing chapters.    The  second  is  worth  some  special  mention. 


160         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


This  is  the  distribution  of  money  prizes  and  free  grants 
through  parish  committees.  After  twelve  years  of  opera- 
tion this  scheme  has  been  found  to  yield  excellent  results, 
not  merely  in  the  actual  improvements  wrought  in  the  con- 
ditions of  living,  but  in  the  spirit  of  progress  and  emulation 
which  it  fosters  among  the  people.  It  was  aimed  to 
give  opportunities  for  self-help  to  the  able-bodied  men  and 
boys  of  the  congested  districts,  most  of  whom  spend  from 
three  to  eight  months  a  year  as  migratory  laborers  in  Eng- 
land. There  is  no  employment  for  them  at  their  homes  in 
the  winter,  and  it  was  thought  that  their  energies  might  be 
turned  during  this  idle  period  to  the  improvement  of  their 
homes. 

Under  the  rules,  committees  for  the  distribution  of  the 
money  grants  are  made  up  in  each  parish  as  follows: 
Ex-ofHcio  members  are  clergymen  of  all  denominations,  the 
dispensary  medical  officer,  the  county  councilor  of  the  dis- 
trict, the  district  councilors  for  the  electoral  division  and  the 
resident  landlords,  or,  in  their  absence,  their  resident 
agents;  elected  members  are  six  residents  of  the  parish,  duly 
elected  by  the  taxpayers. 

Having  organized  and  obtained  a  grant  from  the 
board,  the  parish  committee  announces  its  plans  and  receives 
applications  for  aid  in  carrying  out  improvements.  It  is 
stipulated  that  the  committee  shall  "select  such  projects  as 
will,  in  their  opinion,  be  productive  of  most  good,  and  shall 
give  a  preference  to  applicants  who  undertake  to  do  rela- 
tively the  greatest  amount  of  work  with  the  least  assistance." 
The  board  says: 

"It  is  the  board's  opinion  that  these  grants  or  prizes 
ought  to  represent  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  value  of 
the  work  done  if  paid  for  at  the  current  rate  of  wages. 
The  board  aims  at  making  these  grants  barely  sufficient  to 
afford  a  stimulus  to  self-help.  The  most  urgent  and  impor- 
tant reform  is  the  removal  of  cattle  from  the  dwelling 
houses.  The  first  grant  that  can  be  sanctioned  in  the  case 
of  any  applicant  who  has  cattle  in  his  dwelling  must  be  in 
connection  with  the  removal  of  them  from  his  house.  Until 
this  has  been  done  no  grant  can  be  made  for  any  other  pur- 
pose." 


THINGS  SEEN 


The  26.983  projects  forwarded  under  this  plan  were 
divided  about  equally  between  improvements  to  dwellings 
and  erection  or  improvement  of  outbuildings. 

Under  plan  No.  3  a  tenant  purchaser  may  obtain  1 
loan.  and.  in  some  cases,  a  free  grant,  provided  he  carries 
out  the  improvement  work  while  the  estate  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  board.  There  is  a  free  grant  of  S7.50  to  any  ten- 
ant who  will  remove  the  cattle  from  his  nouse.  partition 
off  a  bedroom  and  put  in  three  windows  with  movable 
sashes.  For  the  holders  of  the  poorer  lands,  free  grants  of 
from  S15  to  S25  are  given  toward  the  erection  of  outbuild- 
ings and  525  to  S50  toward  the  erection  of  a  dwelling.  In 
addition,  $125  will  be  advanced  while  the  work  is  in  prog- 
ress, provided  the  purchasing  tenant  agrees  to  add  the  sum 
to  the  purchase  price,  to  be  repaid  in  the  annuity  payments. 

Plan  No.  4  offers  similar  advantages  to  small  land- 
holders who  will  make  improvements  after  the  board  has 
turned  over  the  property.  There  are.  however,  no  free 
grants.  The  board  o^ers  the  following  advances:  For 
house  with  slate  roof.  S 1 2  5 :  house  with  corrugated  iron 
roof,  $75;  house  with  thatched  roof,  $50;  stable  with  iron 
roof,  S40.  Loans  under  S50  must  be  repaid  in  half-yearly 
instalments,  covering  principal  and  interest  at  three  and  one- 
half  per  cent.,  within  ten  years :  larger  sums  may  run  for  a 
period  not  exceeding  twenty-five  years. 

On  one  section  of  the  Dillon  estate,  near  Kilkelly.  I 
counted  no  fewer  than  seventy-ave  houses,  which  have  been 
erected  by  small  landholders,  under  plan  No.  3.  during  the 
last  two  years.  The  permanent  good  accomplished  by  this 
work  cannot  be  measured.  Not  only  have  the  occupants — 
men,  women  and  children — the  inestimable  advantage  of 
living  in  healthful,  comfortable  surroundings,  instead  of 
amid  the  shocking  conditions  inseparable  from  the  old 
system,  but  they  have  had  the  inspiration  of  lifting  them- 
selves to  a  higher  level,  and  they  have  furnished  an  example 
of  good  sense,  thrift  and  energy  which  will  stir  the  emula- 
tion of  the  people  for  miles  around  the  new  homes. 


11 


XVIII 


A  REMNANT  OF  LANDLORDISM 

This  little  story  is  in  parentheses.  It  is  a  glance  at  the 
other  side.  Like  the  account  of  the  Kerry  eviction  in 
another  chapter,  it  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  series  of 
articles,  but  may  be  valuable  in  giving  the  reader  a  true 
perspective  of  economic  affairs  in  Ireland.  We  have  been 
surveying  the  remarkable  works  of  improvement  which 
have  been  carried  on  during  the  last  seven  years — the  trans- 
fer of  tenants  from  worthless  bog  lands  and  stony  hillsides 
to  fertile  farms;  the  building  of  roads  and  draining  of 
swamp  tracts;  the  erection  of  comfortable,  sanitary  dwell- 
ings for  families  migrated  to  decent  holdings;  in  short,  the 
transferring  of  many  thousands  of  hapless  victims  of  the 
system  of  landlordism  into  independent,  self-sustaining  citi- 
zens. Now  we  shall  turn  aside  for  a  moment  and  look  at 
conditions  as  they  were  and  as  they  still  exist  in  isolated  dis- 
tricts, where  for  one  reason  or  another  the  Congested  Dis- 
tricts Board  has  been  unable  to  operate.  The  picture  is  not 
attractive,  but  it  is  presented  because  it  is  typical  of  the 
results  of  the  old  system  and  because  it  serves  to  illustrate 
how  vast  is  the  progress  that  has  been  made.  No  Irishman 
need  shrink  at  the  recital,  for  the  conditions  are  not  due  to 
any  fault  of  the  people  concerned.  Rather  he  should  rejoice 
that  these  instances  of  helpless  poverty  and  stifled  ambition 
are  now  exceptional,  and  are  soon  to  disappear  under  the 
operation  of  the  land  purchase  system  and  the  intelligent, 
helpful  work  of  the  Congested  Districts  Board. 

There  is  no  need  to  give  the  name  of  the  hamlet.  We 
reached  it  while  making  a  detour  northward  of  Charles- 
town,  near  the  dividing  line  between  Counties  Mayo  and 
Sligo.  The  country,  for  the  most  part,  was  agriculturally 
poor.  Sometimes  for  miles  the  road  wound  across  a  deso- 
late-looking bog,  built  up  like  a  causeway  above  the  flat 
plain  of  brown,  soggy  turf.    Yet  the  population  was,  for  a 

162 


I 


A  REMNANT  OF  LANDLORDISM  163 


rural  district,  noticeably  dense.  Here  and  there  on  the  wide 
expanse  could  be  seen  clusters  of  thatched  huts,  with  patches 
of  green  that  showed  where  scraps  of  land,  reclaimed  from 
the  bog  after  the  cutting  out  of  the  peat,  were  forced  to 
yield  crops  of  potatoes  and  oats.  There  is  a  certain  pic- 
turesqueness  even  about  the  commonplace  operation  of  turf- 
cutting.  The  whole  surface  of  the  bog  was  scarred  with 
ditches  and  holes.  The  turf,  usually  five  or  six  feet  in 
depth,  is  cut  straight  down  from  the  surface  with  sharp 
spades,  leaving  smooth,  perpendicular  walls,  at  the  bottom 
of  which  pools  of  water  form.  The  peat,  cut  roughly  in 
the  form  of  bricks,  is  tossed  out  on  the  surface  and  then 
piled  in  regular  heaps  from  six  to  eight  feet  high,  the  out- 
side lumps  being  cunningly  arranged  so  as  to  shed  the  rain 
and  keep  the  interior  of  the  piles  dry.  After  a  few  weeks' 
exposure  to  the  air  the  turf  dries  sufficiently  to  be  used  as 
fuel.  It  is  carried  to  the  homes  in  carts  or  in  huge  baskets. 
These  creels  are  borne  by  donkeys,  or  often  by  men  and 
women. 

At  the  edge  of  one  of  these  great  bogs  we  came  upon 
a  small  section  of  firm  land,  parts  of  it  forbiddingly  sown 
with  rocks  and  other  parts  as  forbiddingly  wet.  There 
was,  however,  a  pasture  here  and  there  and  some  fairly 
decent  cultivated  land.  A  cluster  of  dreary-looking 
thatched  houses  bordered  the  road  on  either  side,  a  dozen 
in  all.  With  the  officer  of  the  Congested  Districts  Board, 
I  entered  eight  of  the  houses,  and  talked  with  the  persons 
inhabiting  them.  What  I  saw  and  heard  pictures  the  life  of 
the  poorest  of  the  people  here  under  the  old  system  of  land- 
lordism. 

From  the  roadway  we  stepped  dov.  n  six  inches  into  the 
first  house.  I  never  heard  a  satisfactory  explanation  of  this 
habit  of  building  houses  below  the  general  level,  with  the 
floor  lower  than  the  outside  surface.  Naturally,  the  system 
insures  a  flooding  of  the  house  with  each  heavy  rain.  This 
dwelling  had  a  single  room,  lighted  only  by  the  doorway 
and  a  window  with  immovable  sashes.  There  was  no  ceil- 
ing. The  pointed  roof  showed  on  the  interior  the  under 
side  of  the  thatch,  black  with  smoke  and  soot.  The  floor 
was  of  large  flat  stones,  irregularly  laid  in  the  dirt.    On  the 


1 64         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


hearth  smoldered  a  pile  of  turf.  At  one  side  of  the  fire- 
place, in  the  corner,  was  a  rough  framework,  immovable, 
which  served  as  a  bed.  A  dresser  held  a  few  dishes.  There 
were  two  chairs.  Just  inside  the  door  a  calf,  tethered  to  the 
wall,  was  drinking  from  a  pail  of  milk.  At  the  end  of  the 
room  opposite  the  fireplace  the  floor  was  a  little  rougher 
than  elsewhere,  and  straight  across  it,  dividing  one-third  of 
the  roem  from  the  remainder,  ran  a  shallow  open  drain. 
This  inclosed  the  space  which  in  winter  is  occupied  by  two 
cows.  A  woman  about  sixty  years  old  greeted  us  pleasantly. 
The  conversation  ran  like  this: 

"Good  evening!  Will  you  tell  me  what  family  lives 
here?" 

"My  husband  and  myself.  He  is  away  in  the  fields 
now." 

"How  much  land  have  you?" 

"Six  acres  four  perches.    It  is  very  poor  land,  sir." 
"And  the  rent?" 

"Three  pounds  six  shillings  a  year." 
"What  else  have  you?" 

"Two  cows,  this  calf,  a  pig  and  some  chickens." 

"Do  you  make  a  comfortable  living?" 

"Indeed  no,  sir!  It  is  a  very  hard  struggle.  Very 
hard!  My  husband  goes  to  England  three  months  a  year 
or  we  could  never  get  along." 

"Have  you  any  relatives  in  America?" 

"Yes,  sir;  a  daughter." 

"Does  she  help  you?" 

"She  did  for  some  years  after  she  went  out.  But  she 
is  married  now  and  has  her  own  family  to  look  after." 

I  found  this  condition  very  frequently.  The  young 
men  and  women  who  emigrate  almost  invariably  send  remit- 
tances home  from  year  to  year — until  they  marry.  Then 
they  find  their  own  burdens  heavy  enough. 

"Well,  now,"  said  the  official  visitor,  "don't  you  think 
it  is  time  that  you  changed  your  mode  of  life?  Don't  you 
think  that  if  the  board  gave  you  a  little  help  you  would  like 
to  have  a  comfortable  house,  with  buildings  outside  for  the 
cattle?" 


A  REMNANT  OF  LANDLORDISM  165 

"Indeed  I  do,  sir,"  cried  the  woman,  eagerly.  "We 
live  like  this  because  we  could  not  help  it.  We  have  tried 
so  hard  to  get  along,  but  in  all  the  years  we  have  never  been 
able  to  lay  by  enough  to  put  us  ahead." 

"Well,  the  board  will  soon  take  hold  of  this  district, 
and  it  is  likely  that  we  shall  be  able  to  do  something  for 
you.  But  remember  this:  All  we  can  do  is  give  you  a 
chance;  your  husband  must  help  himself." 

"I'm  sure  he  will,  your  Honor." 

"There  must  be  no  cattle  in  the  new  house.    You  must 
try  to  keep  the  place  clean  and  neat." 
"Indeed,  I'll  do  that." 

Within  a  year  this  woman  and  her  husband  will  have 
a  comfortable  home,  with  eighteen  or  twenty  acres  of  fer- 
tile land  and  adequate  quarters  for  the  cattle.  They  will 
never  live  again  as  they  have  in  the  past.  In  no  single  case, 
I  am  officially  informed,  has  a  family  once  placed  on  the 
road  to  a  decent  living  reverted  to  the  primitive  methods 
which  I  saw  in  this  little  village  of  the  old  regime.  We 
entered  another  house,  across  the  road.  The  interior 
arrangement,  of  exactly  the  same  character,  need  not  be 
described.  A  white-haired  old  woman,  barefooted,  sat  on 
a  stool,  throwing  refuse  on  the  dirt  floor  for  a  flock  of 
chickens  to  peck  at.  Nearby  sprawled  a  huge  pig.  The 
woman's  story  was  much  the  same.  The  pig  and  the 
chickens  had  the  run  of  the  house  because  that  had  always 
been  the  custom. 

"But  do  you  mean  to  say,"  said  the  officer,  with 
assumed  incredulity,  "that  the  pig  stays  in  here  at  night?" 

"Oh,  yes,  sir,"  answered  the  woman,  simply,  "but  he 
doesn't  make  much  noise.    He's  a  quiet  pig,  sir." 

Nevertheless,  this  woman  listened  eagerly  to  the  prom- 
ise of  the  board  that  presently  changes  would  be  made  which 
would  exclude  the  well-mannered  pig  from  the  dwelling. 

Another  house.  Noticeably  neat,  this  one.  The  stone 
floor  swept,  the  table  scrubbed,  the  dishes  and  pans  gleam- 
ing. True,  two  calves  lay  in  a  corner,  undergoing  the 
process  of  weaning,  and  a  setting  hen  with  an  unfriendly 
eye  brooded  over  her  eggs  in  another.  Yet  the  place  was 
clean  and  had  an  atmosphere  of  decent  comfort.    On  the 


1 66         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


dresser  stood  two  mugs  filled  with  bright  wild  flowers  from 
the  hedgerows. 

Out  of  the  gloom  by  the  fireplace  stepped  a  young  girl, 
eighteen  years  old,  perhaps,  with  a  trim,  lithe  figure.  Her 
bright  print  dress  did  not  reach  her  bare  ankles.  Her  hair, 
unbraided,  fell  in  black  waves  over  her  shoulders.  Her 
pretty  face  was  brightened  by  dancing  blue  eyes  and  daz- 
zling teeth.  Her  manner  was  as  calm  and  courteous  as  if 
she  had  been  conscious  of  a  well-fitting  directoire  gown  and 
was  receiving  her  visitors  in  a  Louis  Quinze  drawing  room. 
It  was  so  gracious  that  it  put  me  at  my  ease.  I  was  grateful 
for  the  feeling.  It  robbed  our  visit  of  a  sense  of  intrusion 
which  could  not  be  absent  from  such  an  inspection  of  the 
homes  of  strangers.  The  fact  that  a  government  official 
was  present  excused  the  call;  but  this  girl's  frank  and  easy 
welcome  made  it  a  pleasure. 

"My  mother  is  at  market/'  she  explained,  uand  I  am 
looking  after  the  house  and  the  children.  I  am  very  glad 
to  see  you." 

"And  how  are  you  getting  along?"  was  the  official 
question. 

"As  well  as  may  be,  sir,"  answered  the  girl.  "We  are 
doing  the  best  we  can  until  the  board  helps  us  to  do  some- 
thing better." 

"Well,  when  the  board  does  get  you  some  land  and 
helps  your  father  to  build  a  better  house,  with  a  stable  and 
a  house  for  the  chickens,  do  you  think  you'll  be  able  to  get 
along  better?" 

"Ah,  sir,"  with  a  flash  of  the  white  teeth,  "you 
needn't  be  asking  that.  Sure  I've  seen  some  of  the  new 
houses,  with  their  big  windows  and  their  fine  concrete 
floors  and  all,  and  I  know  we'll  have  a  home  to  be  proud  of. 
Father  is  away  in  England  at  the  harvesting,  and  the  big- 
gest boy  is  working  for  the  board  in  the  river.  They'll  both 
be  ready  for  the  work  when  you  can  get  us  the  new  place. 
When  will  it  be,  sir?"  she  added,  wistfully. 

"Soon  now,"  was  the  cheery  answer  of  the  government, 
"and  you  must  be  planning  how  to  make  your  new  home 
comfortable  and  pretty.    You'll  be  able  to  have  flowers  in 


A  REMNANT  OF  LANDLORDISM  167 


your  own  yard  then,  and  these  calves  will  have  a  fine  stable 
to  live  in  instead  of  taking  up  room  in  the  house. 

"But  I  am  sure  you  will  make  the  best  of  your  oppor- 
tunities, for  I  see  that  you  are  keeping  this  house  as  clean 
and  comfortable  as  you  can." 

As  we  turned  to  the  door  the  official  remarked  again: 
"I  am  glad  to  see  so  pleasant  a  place." 

The  girl  swept  him  a  curtsey. 

"Thank  you.  sir,"  she  said.  "I  am  entirely  pleased 
with  your  company." 

It  was  a  quaint  expression,  and  carried  a  very  pleasant 
savor  of  graciousness  and  sincerity. 

We  went  through  the  other  houses.  They  differed 
from  one  another  only  in  degree;  none  was  wholly  fit  for 
human  habitation.  A  year  from  now  all  will  be  changed. 
Those  poor  homes  will  be  swept  away,  the  inhabitants 
established  in  comfortable,  sanitary  dwellings  and  another 
colony  of  self-respecting,  self-supporting  men  and  women 
started  on  its  way. 


XIX 


♦ONE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 

This  Irish  question,  which  has  been  bothering  the 
British  empire  for  some  hundreds  of  years,  and  is  going  to 
bother  it  a  great  deal  more,  is  a  very  simple  problem  to 
some  persons.  I  have  heard  it  dismissed  with  a  couple  of 
airy  sentences. 

"The  trouble  with  the  Irish,"  I  have  been  told  more 
than  once,  "is  that  they  would  rather  agitate  than  work.  If 
there  was  more  industry  and  less  oratory  over  there  we 
wouldn't  hear  so  much  of  'wrongs.'  If  they  weren't  afraid 
of  work  and  would  devote  their  energies  to  making  a  living 
instead  of  making  a  noise  the  thing  would  solve  itself." 

I  have  heard  that  easy  opinion  and  variations  of  it 
many  times.  The  theory  that  the  Irish  are  lazy  is  one  of 
those  curious  fables  that  have  survived  from  the  days  when 
the  extinction  of  the  people  was  decreed  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  pagan.  To  those  who  accept  the  judgment  it  is 
of  no  consequence  that  the  Irish  race  has  lived  through 
generations  of  ruthless  persecution  and  a  grossly  unjust  land 
system  and  that  only  by  the  exercise  of  the  most  desperate 
industry  has  fought  off  starvation.  If  it  were  feasible,  I 
should  like  to  take  these  offhand  philosophers  to  Kiltimagh.  I 
should  like  to  set  them  down  in  the  country  round  about, 
give  them  each  a  house,  farm  tools  and  ten  acres  of  average 
land  and  invite  them  to  go  ahead  and  make  a  living.  It  is 
a  mathematical  certainty  that  they  would  starve  to  death, 
if  they  did  not  expire  of  despair,  after  a  short  experience 
of  the  labor  that  these  "shiftless"  Irish  perform  contin- 
uously and  cheerfully. 

The  Irish  peasant  lazy!  Let  us  take  a  drive  with 
Father  Denis  O'Hara  and  have  a  look  at  the  people  who 
suffer  because  they  are  afraid  of  work.    But  first  let  us  note 

♦This  chapter  was  written  in  Kiltimagh,  County  Mayo,  in  July, 
19©9. 

168 


ONE  MAN  AND  MIS  WORK 


169 


the  changes  of  seven  years  in  the  pastor  himself.  His  hair 
is  a  bit  whiter  and  there  are  more  wrinkles  around  the  keen, 
kindly  eyes,  but  his  natural  vigor  is  not  abated  nor  his  eager, 
constant  service  decreased.  The  priest  is  still  a  father, 
indeed,  to  the  4500  men,  women  and  children  of  his  stony 
parish.  And  with  the  forward  movement  in  economics  and 
industry,  visible  all  over  the  land,  he,  too,  has  advanced. 
Seven  years  ago  he  was  the  parish  priest,  with  all  the  func- 
tions of  counselor,  educator  and  dispenser  of  justice  which 
that  office  implies  in  the  rural  districts  of  Ireland,  besides 
being  an  active  patriot,  an  adviser  of  an  unfriendly  govern- 
ment and  one  of  the  administrators  of  the  enormous  work 
of  the  Congested  Districts  Board.  He  is  all  of  these  things 
to-day — just  as  devoted  in  religion,  as  enthusiastic  for  self- 
government,  as  untiring  in  his  unpaid  public  office,  as  cheer- 
ful in  his  separation  from  ease.  But  he  is  a  little  more.  He 
had  become  a  promoter  and  engineer  since  I  saw  him  last, 
and  conducts  a  big  river  work  as  conscientiously  and  ably  as 
any  of  his  religious  celebrations.  But  there  was  no  change 
in  the  hospitality  of  the  plain  but  home-like  parish  house. 

"Welcome  again,"  said  Father  O'Hara.  "We  have 
not  forgotten  what  was  written  seven  years  ago.  It  brought 
us  even  closer  to  America — and  you  know  that  in  all  this 
parish  there  is  hardly  a  single  family  that  has  not  relatives 
across  the  water.  If  it  were  not  for  those  exiles  and  their 
kind  remembrance  of  the  loved  ones  left  behind  I  don't 
know  what  a  good  many  of  our  people  would  do." 

uBut  there  has  been  an  improvement,  has  there  not?" 
I  asked. 

"There  has,  indeed,"  answered  Father  O'Hara.  "I'll 
not  show  you  to-day  those  wretched  hovels  on  the  hill  where 
you  saw  the  people  and  the  cattle  housed  together.  There 
are  still  some — the  work  is  vast,  and  it  is  slow — but  we  are 
turning  the  corner,  and  we  hope  the  day  is  coming  when 
every  family  will  have  a  decent  home.  You  see,  we  were 
hampered  in  this  district  by  the  lack  of  really  good  land. 
Fifty  years  ago,  and  before,  when  the  people  were  driven 
off  the  good  lands  into  the  bogs  and  up  on  the  rocky  hills,  a 
great  many  died  and  more  emigrated.  But  those  who  did 
not  starve  and  could  not  go  to  America  had  to  take  what 


THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


land  was  left.  There  is  no  fertile  land  in  the  neighborhood 
which  we  can  acquire  for  them,  so  they  must  do  the  best 
they  can  where  they  are. 

"Nevertheless,  as  you  have  seen  on  the  roads  leading 
here,  a  great  deal  has  been  done.  We  have  constructed 
many  main  drains  through  swampy  land,  and  the  holders, 
by  their  own  industry,  have  connected  short  drains  to  these, 
vastly  improving  the  quality  of  the  land.  Then  the  board 
has  made  free  grants  and  small  advances,  assisting  the  land- 
holders to  erect  decent  dwellings  and  outbuildings.  And  a 
great  service  to  the  people  has  been  the  rearrangement  of 
the  scattered  holdings.  So  far  as  possible,  each  man  is  pro- 
vided with  a  compact  farm,  equal  in  area  and  value  to  the 
various  fields  and  parts  of  fields  which  he  cultivated  under 
the  rental  system." 

"I  suppose,"  I  said,  "that  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
'lost  motion/  or  wasted  energy,  in  cultivating  ten  or  a  dozen 
scattered  fields,  as  compared  with  a  group  of  fields  all 
adjoining?" 

"Quite  so,"  assented  Father  O'Hara,  smiling.  "But 
perhaps  you  haven't  realized  what  I  meant  by  'scattered 
patches/  " 

He  turned  to  his  desk,  and  then  started  to  unroll  before 
me  a  tracing  of  a  section  of  his  parish. 

"I  am  going  to  show  you,"  he  said,  "the  handicap 
under  which  one  man  was  working.  I  have  used  this  map 
to  astonish  members  of  Parliament  before  this.  Look, 
now!" 

He  unrolled  the  tracing.  It  was  marked  with  the  roads, 
hills,  clumps  of  trees,  water  courses,  etc.,  of  the  rural  neigh- 
borhood, all  accurately  drawn  to  scale.  Scattered  over  the 
paper  were  patches  colored  blue,  of  irregular  shape  and 
varying  sizes.  There  seemed  a  great  many  of  them,  but  I 
did  not  realize  how  many. 

"This  man,"  said  Father  O'Hara,  "had  eighteen  acres 
and  some  odd  perches  of  land,  for  which  he  paid  rent.  If 
the  land  had  been  all  in  one  piece  he  could  hardly  have  sup- 
ported his  family  from  it,  for  it  was  of  poor  quality.  But 
do  you  know  how  that  land  was  distributed  ?  In  eighty-five 
patches. 


ONE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 


"Think  of  that!  Eighteen  acres  in  eighty-five  patches. 
He  had  an  acre  here  and  an  acre  and  a  half  there,  you  see. 
Then,  two  hundred  yards  down  this  road,  a  quarter  acre. 
On  this  hill  a  little  section  of  a  field,  here  another  and  there 
another,  and  so  on.  It  is  a  fact  that  often  a  patch  of  ground 
no  bigger  than  a  quarter  acre  was  cultivated  by  six  different 
men,  each  having  a  tiny  scrap  where  he  raised  vegetables. 
This  condition  had  its  roots  in  the  system  of  landlordism, 
wrhich  cared  for  nothing  so  long  as  the  rent  could  be  wrung 
from  the  tenants.  Sub-letting  was  carried  to  an  amazing 
degree.  A  man  originally  may  have  rented  a  compact  farm, 
but  in  the  process  of  time,  through  arrangement  with  his 
children  and  grandchildren  and  other  relatives,  the  land  was 
divided  and  sub-divided  and  transferred  until  the  victim  we 
see  here  found  himself  the  tenant  of  eighty-five  little  patches. 
What  this  means  in  extra  labor  you  can  readily  understand. 
No  systematic  cultivation  was  possible,  and  modern  methods 
of  agriculture  were  out  of  the  question.  The  man  and  his 
sons  wasted  more  time  going  to  and  from  their  little  scraps 
of  land,  toiling  up  and  down  the  hills  with  heavy  burdens, 
than  they  were  able  to  devote  to  productive  labor  on  the 
soil. 

"The  rearrangement  of  these  scattered  holdings,  so  as  to 
provide  each  man  with  a  farm  in  one  piece,  as  it  were,  has 
been  a  labor  requiring  infinite  tact  and  patience.  No  one,  I 
believe,  would  have  been  equal  to  it  except  Henry  Doran, 
chief  land  inspector  of  the  Congested  Districts  Board.  He 
has  won  the  absolute  confidence  of  the  people  by  his  justice 
and  patience.  You  can  understand  how  difficult  it  must  be 
to  persuade  each  man  that  he  will  receive  an  equivalent  in 
area  and  value  of  the  little  scraps  of  land  he  has  cultivated. 
The  proposition  may  look  all  right,  but  the  man  remembers 
the  weary  months  of  toil  he  put  in  reclaiming  this  patch  and 
that  from  the  bog  or  digging  out  the  stones  that  lie  thickly 
under  the  surface.  When  you  remember  the  inhuman  labor 
these  people  have  expended  to  create  arable  land  you  need 
not  wonder  that  they  cling  so  passionately  to  the  actual 
pieces  of  it  which  they  have  made  with  their  own  hands,  and 
that  they  are  doubtful  about  exchanging  any  one  piece  for 
any  other." 


172         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 

We  discussed  further  the  work  of  the  Congested  Dis- 
tricts Board,  and  then  Father  O'Hara  took  me  to  inspect 
his  engineering  work.  It  was  only  a  short  ride  in  the  auto- 
mobile— out  along  the  country  roads,  between  the  stone 
walls  that  speak  so  eloquently  of  the  peasants'  labor,  up 
rocky  lanes,  over  the  hills  and  down  into  a  shallow  valley, 
where  the  little  river  glides.  A  deep  cut  was  being  made 
through  the  rocky  soil  to  provide  a  millrace.  The  erection 
of  a  grist  mill  is  the  latest  project  to  engage  the  attention  of 
the  priest  between  services. 

"I  have  borrowed  some  of  the  money  from  the  Board 
of  Works,"  he  said,  "and  raised  some  more  in  shilling  and 
half-crown  and  five-shilling  subscriptions  among  my  people. 
Of  course,  it  is  easy  to  supply  the  labor.  I  have  the  people 
interested  now.  We'll  put  the  mill  here,  and  from  all  the 
district  round  about  the  farmers  will  bring  the  oats  to  be 
ground.  My  idea  is  not  only  to  increase  the  wealth  of  the 
neighborhood  by  having  the  milling  done  at  home,  but  to 
teach  the  people  to  provide  themselves  with  wholesome  food 
produced  on  their  own  holdings.  They  will  get  more  money 
for  oatmeal  than  for  the  oats  as  harvested,  and  they  will 
have  the  benefit  of  the  strengthening  diet  of  oatmeal  at 
trifling  cost,  instead  of  buying  it  and  paying  a  profit  to  the 
manufacturer  and  dealer." 

From  the  site  of  Father  O'Hara's  engineering  opera- 
tion I  went  in  search  of  evidence  that  the  Irish  peasant  is 
lazy.  I  thought  I  knew  something  of  the  district  where,  as 
the  saying  is,  "the  first  three  crops  are  stones,"  but  I  hadn*t 
thoroughly  mastered  the  facts.  We  covered  a  mile  or  so 
of  rocky  road,  then  descended  from  the  car,  crossed  a  quak- 
ing bog  and  climbed  a  rough  hill.  There  was  grass  on  it, 
but  the  surface  was  lumpy,  the  turf  rising  in  irregular  hum- 
mocks. Half  way  up  the  slope  we  came  upon  the  patch  of 
stones  shown  in  the  photograph  accompanying  this  chapter. 

"Now,  there,"  said  Father  O'Hara,  "is  a  field  in  process 
of  manufacture." 

"I  see,"  I  said.  "All  these  stones  were  dug  out  of  the 
ground  and  thrown  here." 

"Yes,  they  were  dug  out  of  the  ground,"  said  the  priest, 


ONE  MAN  AND  HIS  WORK 


173 


"but  they  were  not  'thrown'  where  you  see  them.  They  lie 
just  as  they  were  dug  up." 

Then  I  began  to  understand.  These  stones  were  not 
the  result  of  work  on  other  fields,  but  actually  were  the  field. 
I  clambered  over  them  and  made  an  examination.  The  stones, 
mostly  round  and  smooth,  varied  in  size.  Some  were  as 
large  as  medium  potatoes,  others  as  large  as  footballs;  some 
were  boulders  of  respectable  dimensions.  They  lay  in  irreg- 
ular layers.  I  moved  a  patch  of  the  stones  and  found  more 
stones  underneath,  and  still  more  under  those.  I  went  down 
more  than  a  foot  before  I  found  earth.  As  I  live  to  tell  it, 
the  soil  was  hidden  under  eighteen  to  twenty-four  inches  of 
stones,  every  one  of  which  had  been  dug  from  that  same 
soil.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  green  appearance  of  that  hill- 
side was  a  sham  and  delusion.  A  skin  of  turf  there  was,  but 
under  it  two  or  three  feet  of  stones,  with  a  sprinkling  of 
earth.  And  the  owner  of  the  patch  had  to  remove  this  layer 
by  the  labor  of  his  hands  before  he  could  plant  a  seed. 

"There  you  are,"  said  Father  O'Hara.  "I  suppose  in 
any  other  part  of  the  world  a  man  who  would  attempt  to 
make  an  arable  field  out  of  this  would  be  called  insane. 
This  fellow  has  been  two  years  at  work  here,  using  the  few 
months  in  the  year  when  he  is  not  working  in  England. 
Another  year  will  see  the  stones  removed,  perhaps  built  into 
a  boundary  wall.  As  you  see,  up  to  this  point  he  has  only 
succeeded  in  prying  them  loose  from  the  soil.  I  make  it  a 
point  to  urge  the  people  to  do  this  work,  mad  as  the  expendi- 
ture of  energy  may  seem.  I  said  to  this  man :  'If  there  was 
work  for  you  at  sixpence  a  day,  I  wouldn't  tell  you  to  do 
this.  But  if  you  can't  earn  sixpence  a  day,  man,  you  can 
earn  threepence  a  day  for  yourself  by  digging  out  these 
stones.'    And  so  they  do  it." 

And  so  I  have  some  photographs  to  show  the  next  per- 
son who  says  the  Irish  peasant  is  "lazy." 


XX 


♦EDUCATIONAL  REFORM 

Because  of  its  devastating  effects  upon  the  country  and 
the  people,  the  passing  system  of  Irish  landlordism  has 
always  been  the  most  prominent  of  the  evils  of  misrule. 
There  is  another  long-standing  grievance,  however,  and  this 
is  the  denial  of  decent  educational  facilities.  That  the  doors 
so  long  barred  by  injustice  and  prejudice  have  finally  been 
swung  open  constitutes  one  of  the  most  important  achieve- 
ments of  progress  in  the  last  seven  years.  The  century-old 
fight  of  Irish  patriotism,  culminating  during  recent  years  in 
the  masterly  campaigns  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party, 
has  won  triumph  at  last  in  the  establishment  of  the  National 
University  of  Ireland — a  free,  untrammeled,  comprehen- 
sive institution  of  learning,  to  be  owned  and  governed  abso- 
lutely by  the  people  of  Ireland  themselves. 

How  great  an  advance  this  is  can  be  understood  only 
upon  realization  of  the  anomalous  and  intolerable  conditions 
which  have  ruled  in  Ireland  in  the  past.  The  country,  it 
should  be  observed,  was  literally  confiscated  by  England 
through  successive  conquests  and  land-grabbing  invasions. 
And  the  subjugation  was  made  permanent  by  the  deliberate 
withholding  of  education  from  the  people.  In  passing,  it 
may  be  noted  that  even  in  the  matter  of  education  the 
national  demands  are  inextricably  associated  with  the  great 
foundation  demand  for  self-government.  During  all  the 
years  there  has  been  virtually  but  one  institution  of  higher 
learning  in  all  Ireland;  that  is,  an  institution  having  the 
prestige  and  power  of  public  endowment  and  support.  This 
is  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  justly  famous  for  its  scholarship 
and  the  high  attainments  of  its  graduates,  but  with  a  record 
marred  by  the  injustice  of  which  it  has  been  the  beneficiary. 

Ordinarily,  religion  has  no  proper  place  in  dealing  with 
national  problems  of  education,  but  in  this  case  it  cannot  be 

♦Chapters  XX  and  XXI  were  written  in  Dublin  in  August,  1909. 

174 


EDUCATIONAL  REFORM  175 


excluded  from  the  discussion.  Indeed,  it  is  at  the  very  foun- 
dation of  the  claims  which  have  just  been  recognized  by  the 
British  Parliament.  Two  statements  of  fact  will  set  forth 
the  issue  clearly:  First,  four-fifths  of  the  people  of  Ireland 
are  Roman  Catholics;  second,  Trinity  College,  the  only 
institution  of  its  kind  in  the  country,  endowed  with  Irish 
funds  and  grown  fat  upon  lands  taken  from  the  people,  is 
uncompromisingly  and  aggressively  Protestant  in  its  aims, 
its  atmosphere  and  its  regulations  for  the  government  of  its 
members.  The  circumstances  of  its  founding  are  vividly 
significant  of  the  course  it  was  to  pursue  through  the  cen- 
turies and  upon  which  it  continues  to-day. >  Trinity  College 
was  established  by  Queen  Elizabeth  with  the  proceeds  of 
lands  confiscated  from  Irish  monasteries  and  Irish  Catholic 
citizens,  and  its  avowed  purpose  was  to  propagate  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Protestant  religion.  For  more  than  one  hun- 
dred years  it  was  open  only  to  members  of  the  Established 
(Protestant  Episcopal)  Church.  During  the  brief  regime 
of  the  Irish  Parliament,  forcibly  brought  to  an  end  by  the 
Act  of  Union  of  1 800,  it  opened  its  doors  to  students  of  all 
denominations,  but  not  until  1874  were  removed  the  religious 
tests  which  barred  not  only  Catholics,  but  Presbyterians,  from 
its  offices  and  scholarships,  and  it  became,  in  theory,  undenom- 
inational. Nevertheless,  it  is  still  almost  wholly  Episcopalian 
in  government  and  wholly  so  in  spirit. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  sought  to  remove  the  obvious  evil  by 
establishing  strictly  undenominational  colleges  in  Cork,  Gal- 
way  and  Belfast.  But  here  the  pendulum  swung  too  far  the 
other  way.  Cork  and  Galway  colleges  have  been  failures 
because  they  were  hopelessly  at  variance  with  Catholic  prin- 
ciples of  education,  which  insist  upon  some  connection 
between  secular  and  religious  teaching.  The  Belfast  insti- 
tution has  flourished  because  its  non-religious  atmosphere 
has  been  no  offense  to  the  Presbyterian  conscience  of  the 
North.  The  refusal  of  the  Irish  people  to  send  their  sons 
to  Trinity  has  been  a  remarkable  form  of  protest,  since  it 
involved  the  rejection  of  the  only  means  of  higher  education 
in  the  country.  But  when  we  recall  that  four-fifths  of  the 
population  is  Catholic  and  that  Trinity  maintains  still  the 
inspiration  of  its  founding — to  propagate  anti-Catholicism 


i76         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


— the  determination  can  be  readily  understood.  The  Prot- 
estantism of  Trinity  is  militant.  Only  a  few  years  ago  a 
member  of  the  governing  board  made  this  declaration: 

"Trinity  was  founded  by  Protestants  for  Protestants 
and  in  the  Protestant  interest.  At  the  present  moment,  with 
all  its  toleration,  its  liberality,  its  scrupulous  honor,  the 
guardian  spirit  is  Protestant.  And  I  say,  Protestant  may  it 
evermore  remain." 

The  sentiment  may  have  done  the  distinguished  speaker 
honor  and  may  voice  a  worthy  ambition,  so  far  as  the  col- 
lege is  concerned,  but  such  a  spirit  surely  justifies  the  charge 
that  Trinity  is  not  and  cannot  be  a  national  Irish  institution. 
How  cordial  is  Trinity's  invitation  to  eighty  per  cent,  of  the 
people  of  Ireland  may  be  gathered  from  a  sonnet  which 
appeared  less  than  two  years  ago  in  the  college  magazine,  in 
which  the  Catholic  churches  of  the  country  were  described 
as  "grim  monuments  of  cold  observance,  the  incestuous  mate 
of  superstition." 

As  a  remedy  for  this  long  denial  of  education  to  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  population,  the  demand  of  Ireland 
during  the  last  century  has  been  for  a  truly  national  univer- 
sity. Obviously,  in  a  preponderatingly  Catholic  country 
this  means  that  the  institution  would  be  Catholic  in  its 
atmosphere,  else  it  would  not  be  national.  There  has  been 
no  demand  or  desire  for  a  sectarian  institution.  In  1897 
the  Catholic  bishops  formally  declared  they  would  accept  a 
university  which  would  lay  no  religious  tests  upon  students, 
teachers,  officers  or  governors;  with  a  majority  of  the  gov- 
erning body  laymen,  and  with  a  provision  that  no  state 
funds  should  be  employed  for  the  promotion  of  religious 
education./  As  long  ago  as  1871  the  Catholic  hierarchy  pro- 
posed, as  a  solution  of  the  question,  that  the  constitution  of 
the  University  of  Dublin  should  be  modified  "so  as  to  admit 
of  the  establishment  of  a  second  college  within  it,  in  every 
respect  equal  to  Trinity  College,  and  conducted  on  purely 
Catholic  principles."  Trinity,  however,  was  not  ready  to 
yield  its  supremacy,  for  in  1901,  when  a  royal  commission 
inquired  into  the  whole  educational  problem,  the  cry  of 
"Hands  off  Trinity!"  was  raised,  and  that  institution — the 
main  center  of  university  education — was  excluded  from  an 


EDUCATIONAL  REFORM 


177 


investigation  which  was  to  devise  means  for  obtaining  such 
education  in  the  country.  The  commission  recommended 
the  establishment  of  a  federal  teaching  university  with  four 
constituent  colleges — the  three  existing  Queen's  Colleges  in 
Cork,  Galway  and  Belfast,  and  a  new  Catholic  college  in 
Dublin. 

The  main  idea  was  carried  out  in  the  Irish  Universities 
Act  of  August  1,  1908,  establishing  the  National  University 
of  Ireland  and  the  colleges  at  Cork,  Galway  and  Dublin  in 
association  with  it,  and  a  second  university  in  Belfast.  While 
the  National  University  will,  as  stated,  inevitably  be  Catholic 
in  spirit  and  atmosphere,  it  will  be  also,  and  chiefly,  national. 
University  and  colleges  will  be  open  to  members  of  all 
creeds.    The  act  distinctly  provides: 

"No  test  whatever  of  religious  belief  shall  be  imposed 
on  any  person  as  a  condition  of  his  becoming  or  continuing 
to  be  a  professor,  lecturer,  fellow,  scholar,  exhibitioner, 
graduate  or  student  of,  or  of  his  holding  any  office  or  emolu- 
ment, or  exercising  any  privilege,  in  either  of  the  universi- 
ties or  any  constituent  college;  nor  shall  any  preference  be 
given  to  or  advantage  be  withheld  from  any  person  on  the 
ground  of  religious  belief." 

Financial  provision  is  also  made  in  the  act.  The  fol- 
lowing sums  are  appropriated  for  the  purchase  of  site  and 
erection  of  buildings: 

National  University  of  Ireland  and  new  Univer- 
sity College,  Dublin    $750,000 


The  parent  institution  is  to  take  over  the  land  and 

buildings  of  the  Royal  University  in  Dublin,  which  has  been 

a  mere  examining  institution,  but  an  entire  new  plant  must 

be  erected.    There  are  already  good  buildings  in  Cork  and 

Galway,  which  accounts  for  the  relatively  small  sums  for 

those  cities.    The  annual  endowments  are  as  follows: 

University  College,  Dublin   $160,000 

Queen's  College,  Cork   100,000 

Queen's  College,  Galway   60,000 

The  breadth  of  the  curriculum  is  shown  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  faculties  in  arts,  philosophy  and  sociology, 
Celtic  studies,  science,  law,  medicine,  engineering  and  archi- 


Queen's  College,  Cork... 
Queen's  College,  Galway. 


70,000 
30,000 


12 


178         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


tecture  and  commerce.  Naturally,  in  view  of  the  ardent 
desire  for  a  fostering  of  the  national  spirit,  emphasis  is  laid 
upon  the  Celtic  studies.  These  will  include  archaeology,  art, 
history,  Irish  language,  music  and  philology,  and  Welsh 
and  other  Brythonic  languages^  I  talked  upon  this  univer- 
sity matter  at  some  length  with  John  Dillon,  M.  P.,  who 
has  been  one  of  the  strongest  and  ablest  advocates  of  the 
national  university  project. 

"I  attach  enormous  importance  to  the  enterprise,"  he 
said.  "After  confiscation,  the  most  powerful  weapon  Eng- 
land has  wielded  against  us  has  been  the  denial_to  the 
Irish  people  of  opportunities  for  higher  education.  fit  is  to 
be  truly  a  national  institution,  governed  by  and  responsive 
to*  the  people  of  Ireland — a  free,  self-governing  university. 
For  the  first  five  years  the  senate  is  to  be  nominated  by  the 
Crown,  but  so  nominated  as  to  make  the  overwhelming 
majority  Nationalists.  After  the  first  five  years  all  the 
members  of  the  governing  bodies  are  to  be  elected.  Four 
will  be  nominated  by  the  Crown,  and  the  others  will  be  the 
chancellor,  the  presidents  of  the  three  constituent  colleges, 
persons  elected  by  the  governing  bodies  of  the  colleges, 
elected  by  the  student  convocation,  and  so  on — thirty-five 
members  in  all.  In  other  words,  the  authorities  will  be 
wholly  Irish,  and  that  means  Nationalist^ 

"The  only  complaint  we  have  is  that  the  endowment  is 
insufficient,  but  that  can  be  remedied.  The  statutory  foun- 
dation of  the  university  and  its  colleges  is  sound  and  satis- 
factory. The  system  will  for  the  first  time  provide  for  the 
youth  of  Ireland  adequate  educational  facilities.  More  than 
that,  the  university  will  be  a  center  of  Nationalist  spirit. 
The  atmosphere  will  be  Nationalist,  every  student  will  uncon- 
sciously absorb  patriotism  with  learning  and  the  university 
will  go  far  to  make  Ireland  once  more  a  nation  among 
nations." 

I  shall  hardly  have  space  to  discuss  the  national  schools, 
as  the  common  schools  in  Ireland  are  called.  They  provide 
an  instructive  example  in  themselves  of  the  evils  and  absurd- 
ities of  the  governmental  system.  The  national  school  system 
was  established  in  1833,  upon  a  basis  of  equity  illustrated 


EDUCATIONAL  REFORM 


179 


by  the  fact  that  the  controlling  board  having  charge  of  the 
education  of  children,  of  whom  four-fifths  were  Catholics, 
was  Protestant  by  five  to  two.  The  effect  of  this  was  seen 
in  the  persistent  efforts  to  Anglicize  the  children.  The  use 
of  the  English  language  was  enforced,  although  many  thou- 
sands of  children  spoke  Gaelic.  This  might  be  justified  on 
the  ground  that  English  was  more  useful  in  everyday  life; 
but  as  much  could  hardly  be  said  for  the  use  as  text  books  of 
histories  which  extolled  the  conquest  of  the  country  by  Eng- 
lish sovereigns  and  lauded  the  defection  of  England  from 
the  Church  to  which  Ireland  clings.  Americans,  more  jealous 
of  their  public  schools  than  of  any  other  institution,  will  need 
no  emphasis  upon  a  policy  so  violently  opposed  to  fairness 
and  peace. 

Even  the  "readers"  were  carefully  edited  with  a  view 
to  bend  the  youthful  mind  toward  contentment  under  the 
ruthless  injustices  which  Englishmen  of  a  fairer  generation 
have  been  glad  to  remove.  Said  one  book:  "On  the  east 
of  Ireland  is  England,  where  the  Queen  lives.  Many  people 
who  live  in  Ireland  were  born  in  England  [two  or  three  per 
cent.,  possibly],  and  we  speak  the  same  language  and  are 
called  one  nation." 

The  English  educational  censor,  too,  had  a  fatherly 
interest  in  the  tender  minds  under  his  care.  He  condemned 
and  suppressed  a  "reader"  which  contained  Scott's  verses, 
beginning: 

"Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said: 
'This  is  my  own,  my  native  land'?" 

Mild  as  is  this  appeal  to  patriotism,  the  English 
authorities  expunged  the  verses  on  account  of  "their  ten- 
dency to  promote  seditious  feelings."  Perhaps  the  national 
deficiency  in  humor  has  been  at  the  bottom  of  England's 
refusal  to  grant  Home  Rule.  This  example  would  seem  to 
indicate  as  much.  But  delicious  as  it  is,  it  has  not  the 
exquisite  flavor  of  Podsnappery  to  be  found  in  the  verses 
inserted  in  the  "reader"  in  place  of  Sir  Walter's  incendiary 
lines.  These  were  by  one  of  the  Episcopalian  members  of 
the  board,  and  ended  with  the  touching  couplet : 

"I  thank  the  goodness  and  the  grace'Jwhich  on  my  birth  have  smiled, 
And  made  me  in  these  Christian  daysja  happy  English  child." 


i8o         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


It  is  not  an  unpleasant  picture — the  good  Archbishop 
penning  the  lines  which  he  conscientiously  hoped  would  aid 
in  bringing  the  unregenerate  Irish  children  into  the  blessed 
state  of  being  English;  but  imagine  the  confusion  in  the 
minds  of  the  young  Joyces  and  Considines  and  Dwyers  who 
were  called  upon  to  recite  them! 


XXI 


A  SUMMARY 

To  those  familiar  with  the  long,  dark  record  of  Ire- 
land^ history  the  rapid  changes  of  the  last  few  years  must 
be  impressive.  During  the  tour  I  have  described  through 
districts  which  bore  the  deepest  scars  of  injustice  and  pov- 
erty I  saw  on  every  hand  evidences  of  the  economic  regen- 
eration. And  while  the  alteration  in  this  corner  of  the 
island  is  perhaps  the  most  noticeable,  it  is  simply  one  feature 
of  the  great  national  advance.  As  no  other  nation,  in 
modern  times,  has  suffered  under  so  elaborate  and  crushing 
a  system  of  spoliation,  so  no  other  has  been  the  subject  of 
such  vast  experiments  in  remedial  legislation.  From  the 
savage  plundering  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries 
grew  up  a  government  grotesque  in  its  injustice  and  a  land 
system  utterly  ruthless  in  its  oppression.  Under  the  opera- 
tion of  these  reciprocating  evils  every  principle  of  right 
seemed  to  be  extinguished  and  every  natural  economic  ten- 
dency perverted.  The  privileges  of  property,  though 
founded  upon  robbery,  wholesale  confiscation  and  merciless 
penal  laws,  were  held  superior  to  all  else,  even  to  human 
life.  In  the  matter  of  land — a  matter  of  life  and  death  to 
two-thirds  of  the  population — the  law  of  supply  and  demand 
was  strangled  and  the  law  of  force  substituted. 

This  unnatural  treatment  inevitably  bred  unnatural 
conditions.  Thus  the  last  century  saw  the  population  fleeing 
from  Ireland  as  if  it  were  stricken  with  plague;  untold  acres 
of  fertile  land  given  over  to  grazing  cattle,  while  the  people 
fought  off  starvation  upon  rocky  hillsides  and  desolate 
swamps;  despairing  revolts  against  the  system  crushed  by  a 
form  of  martial  law,  by  coercion,  intimidation,  jury  packing, 
eviction. 

But  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  saw  also  the  first 
application  of  the  remedy,  and  that  remedy  was  as  excep- 

181 


1 82         THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


tional  as  the  disease.  A  more  gigantic  scheme  of  state 
socialism,  or  paternalism,  has  never  been  attempted.  The 
British  government  recognized  at  last  that  the  monstrous 
evils  of  former  generations  could  never  be  eradicated  except 
by  reversing  the  whole  process  of  those  years.  It  is  the 
operation  of  this  policy  which  has  wrought  such  marvelous 
changes  in  Ireland.  A  brief  survey  will  illustrate  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  problem  and  of  what  has  been  accomplished.. 

The  great  scheme  of  land  purchase — the  transfer  of 
the  land  from  the  landlords  to  the  tenants,  the  govern- 
ment advancing  the  money  and  the  new  owners  repay- 
ing it  in  annual  instalments,  with  interest — first  became 
effective  in  1881.  Other  acts,  broadening  the  scope  of  the 
plan,  were  passed  in  1885,  1888,  1*896  and  1903,  and  there 
is  now  pending  still  another  bill,  which  will  extinguish  the 
last  vestige  of  landlordism  by  making  the  sale  of  their 
estates  compulsory.  Progress  was  very  slow  at  first,  and 
has  never  kept  pace  with  the  demands  of  the  problem,  but 
in  all,  under  the  various  acts,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million 
tenants  have  become  owners  of  the  lands  they  tilled. 

The  exceptionally  acute  conditions  of  poverty  in  the 
west  of  Ireland  have  been  treated,  as  set  forth,  by  the  Con- 
gested Districts  Board.  Empowered  to  purchase  estates, 
enlarge  and  rearrange  holdings,  migrate  tenants  from  con- 
gested to  more  open  areas,  encourage  agriculture,  industries 
and  fishing  and  assist  landholders  to  improve  their  farms 
and  better  their  conditions  of  living,  the  board  has  worked 
a  transformation  over  a  large  district.  It  has  expended 
nearly  $17,000,000  in  the  eighteen  years  of  its  existence, 
and  the  result  is  seen  in  colonies  of  comfortable,  prosperous 
farms  where  formerly  there  was  the  most  dire  and  helpless 
poverty. 

A  special  work  of  the  government  has  been  the  restora- 
tion of  evicted  tenants.  Thousands  of  these  families  sacri- 
ficed themselves  for  principle  in  the  land  wars,  particularly 
in  the  bitter  struggle  of  1879-80.  Then  they  were  rebels, 
and  suffered  all  the  rigors  of  the  war  which  they  invited  by 
their  resistance.  But  the  time  came  when  it  was  recognized 
that  they  were  "wounded  soldiers"  and  that  they  have 
peculiar  claims  upon  the  government  which  inherited  the 


A  SUMMARY 


183 


system  of  injustice.  These  evicted  tenants  are  being  restored 
to  the  lands  which  were  torn  from  them  by  force,  or  to  lands 
of  equivalent  value.  Houses  are  erected  for  them,  the  farms 
are  stocked,  and  after  years  of  suffering  they  once  more  are 
on  the  road  to  self-supporting  independence. 

Paternalism  of  a  still  more  radical  character  is  being 
applied  in  the  case  of  the  agricultural  laborers  of  the  coun- 
try. Their  condition  was  naturally  worse  than  that  of  the 
tenants.  Depending  upon  their  unskilled  labor  and  the 
product  of  the  tiny  patches  of  land  surrounding  their  homes, 
they  occupied  wretched  hovels,  not  only  in  discomfort,  but 
in  constant  peril  from  disease.  Several  acts  for  the  benefit 
of  these  laborers  have  been  passed,  under  which  county 
authorities  are  able  to  borrow  government  funds  for  the 
erection  of  decent,  sanitary  dwellings,  which  rent  for  the 
trifling  sum  of  a  shilling  a  week.  Nearly  50,000  of  these 
neat  cottages  have  been  erected  and  as  many  of  the  wretched 
huts  swept  away.  Similar  work  has  b^en  undertaken  for  the 
poor  dwellers  in  the  towns,  where  tenement  life  has  been 
upon  the  lowest  possible  scale.  Here,  also,  the  local  authori- 
ties are  empowered  to  borrow  funds  and  erect  sanitary 
houses,  which  are  rented  at  a  very  low  rate  to  the  artisans. 

And  in  the  swinging  back  of  the  pendulum  from  the 
evils  of  unchecked  landlord  rule  a  point  has  been  reached  in 
regard  to  town  tenants  which  will  startle  even  Americans. 
An  act  which  became  effective  on  January  1,  1907,  applying 
to  "houses,  shops  and  other  buildings  in  urban  districts, 
towns  or  villages,  and  occupied  either  for  residential  or  busi- 
ness purposes,  or  partially  for  residential  and  pardy  for 
business  purposes,"  provides  as  follows: 

"Subject  to  the  provisions  of  ihis  act,  a  tenant  of  a  holding  to 
which  this  act  applies  may,  on  quitting  his  holding,  claim,  in  the 
prescribed  manner,  compensation,  to  be  paid  by  the  landlord,  in 
respect  of  all  improvements  on  his  holding  made  by  him  or  his  pred- 
ecessors in  title  which  at  the  date  of  such  claim  add  to  the  letting 
value  of  the  holding,  and  are  suitable  to  the  character  of  the  hold- 
ing, and  have  not  diminished  the  letting  value  of  any  other  property 
of  the  same  landlord. 

"Where  the  landlord,  without  good  and  sufficient  cause,  termi- 
nates or  refuses  to  grant  a  renewal  of  the  tenancy,  or  it  is  proved 
that  an  increase  of  the  rent  is  demanded  from  the  tenant  as  the 
result  of  improvements  which  have  been  effected  at  the  cost  of  such 
tenant,  and  for  which  he  has  not,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 


1 84        THE  LAND  PROBLEM  SOLVED 


received  an  equivalent  from  the  landlord,  and  such  demand  results 
in  the  tenant  quitting  his  holding,  the  tenant  shall,  in  addition  to 
the  compensation  (if  any)  to  which  he  may  be  entitled  in  respect 
of  improvements,  and  notwithstanding  any  agreement  to  the  con- 
trary, be  entitled  to  compensation  for  the  loss  of  good-will  and  the 
expense  which,  by  reason  of  his  quitting  the  holding,  he  sustains  or 
incurs." 

This  is  certainly  drastic,  but  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  conditions  in  Irish  towns  are  quite  unlike  the  condi- 
tions in  American  towns.  In  Ireland  the  town  tenant,  like 
the  agricultural  tenant,  has  been  quite  at  the  mercy  of  the 
landlord,  because  the  landlord  usually  owns  every  foot  of 
land  in  the  town.  He  never  sells  land;  he  rents  it.  Hence 
the  tenant  has  not  been  able  to  look  elsewhere  for  land  in 
case  of  disagreement  with  the  landlord  or  an  excessive 
demand  in  rent.  He  has  had  to  meet  the  demand  or  leave 
the  town.  This  act  simply  protects  the  town  tenant  against 
capricious  eviction.  If  the  landlord  wants  to  get  rid  of  him 
he  must  pay  him  not  only  for  the  improvements  he  has  made 
on  the  property,  but  for  the  good-will  of  his  business. 

That  land  purchase  and  the  other  great  reforms  have 
brought  a  steadily  increasing  measure  of  prosperity  to  Ire- 
land there  is  abundant  evidence,  none  of  ;t  more  impressive 
than  the  records  of  the  people's  savings.  Here  are  the 
figures  for  the  savings  banks  conducted  by  the  post  office  and 
by  private  enterprise  for  the  years  1881,  1896  and  1907: 

1881.  1896.  1907. 

Number  of  accounts   150,097  350,887  550,223 

Total  deposits   $19,010,505       $41,074,965  $65,445,790 

Education  in  Ireland,  which  suffered  grievously 
through  prejudice  and  neglect,  is  at  last  receiving  a  respect- 
able measure  of  attention.  The  government  now  makes  an 
annual  appropriation  of  $200,000  for  improving  the  school 
houses  and  $570,000  for  increases  in  teachers'  salaries. 
But  the  most  notable  advance  has  been  the  establishment, 
on  August  1,  1908,  of  the  National  University  of  Ireland. 

Assuredly,  Ireland  is  on  the  up  grade.  The  wrongs  of 
centuries  are  being  righted,  the  curse  of  landlordism  is  being 
lifted,  economic  independence  is  replacing  the  system  of 
serfdom,  a  national  university  is  established.  What  more, 
then,  does  Ireland  want? 

A  trifling  thing — self-government. 


THE  DEMAND  FOR 
HOME  RULE 


XXII 

*  T  H  E  CONQUESTS  OF  IRELAND 

In  a  public  address  on  July  4,  1909,  before  a  crowd 
in  Arkiow,  County  Wicklow.  which  cheered  American  inde- 
pendence as  heartily  as  it  cheered  Ireland's  demands,  John  E. 
Redmond  made  this  statement  : 

"The  present  budget  is  unjust  to  Ireland.  With  the 
exception  of  that  of  last  year,  every  budget  since  the  Union 
has  been  unjust  to  Ireland.  And  I  tell  you  that  that  will 
continue,  no  matter  what  party  is  in  power,  until  we  get 
Home  Rule.  The  only  way  to  stop  the  robbery  of  Ireland  by 
English  budgets  is  to  make  the  Irish  Nationalists  a  united 
force  to  obtain  self-government  for  our  country." 

Here  are  other  recent  utterances  by  the  same  man: 

"The  demand  for  national  self-government  is  founded 
by  us,  first  of  all,  upon  right,  and  we  declare  that  no  amelio- 
rative reforms,  no  number  of  land  acts  or  laborers'  acts  or 
education  acts,  no  redress  of  financial  grievances,  no  mate- 
rial improvement  or  industrial  development  can  ever  satisfy 
Ireland  until  Irish  laws  are  made  and  administered  upon 
Irish  soil  by  Irishmen. 

♦Most  of  these  chapters  on  Home  Rule  were  written  in  Dublin 
in  July  and  August,  1909. 

185 


1 86      THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


"You  have  heard  how  much  has  been  done,  especially 
in  the  last  twenty-five  years,  to  mitigate  the  sufferings  of 
Ireland  on  the  question  of  the  land  and  the  laborers  and 
education.  But  the  doctrine  tnat  we  hold  is  that  none  of 
these  things,  no  amelioration  of  our  condition  by  palliatives, 
can  settle  the  Irish  question  or  can  turn  this  into  a  pros- 
perous and  contented  nation.  We  say  that  can  be  done 
only  By  Home  Rule. 

"I  have,  as  have  my  parliamentary  colleagues,  the 
utmost  sympathy  with  every  effort  at  industrial  revival;  but 
I  say  here,  without  the  slightest  hesitation,  I  believe  that 
until  you  have  first  freedom  in  the  land  you  will  never  be  a 
prosperous  country.  I  say  that  the  one  remedy  is  Home 
Rule." 

These  are  fairly  strong  words.  But  they  accurately 
represent  the  views  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  of  this 
country.  Mr.  Redmond  is  chairman  of  the  Irish  Parliamen- 
tary Party  and  recognized  leader  of  the  Irish  race  through- 
out the  world.  In  this  he  speaks  for  the  nation,  or  for  a 
very  large  majority  of  it. 

"What  does  Ireland  want  now?"  asked  Pitt,  wearily,  a 
century  ago,  and  "What  does  Ireland  want  now?"  many 
Englishmen  echo  to-day.  Indeed,  I  have  heard  the  same 
flippancy  from  Americans.  At  the  bottom  of  it,  of  course, 
is  ignorance.  Few  Englishmen  understand,  or  have  any 
desire  to  understand,  the  Irish  question  in  its  complex 
phases;  and  too  many  Americans,  through  intellectual  indo- 
lence, have  accepted  the  view  industriously  propagated  by 
Toryism,  that  the  Irish  demands  are  totally  unreasonable 
and  the  race  incapacitated  for  the  affairs  of  government. 

I  purpose  to  examine,  from  the  viewpoint  of  an  Ameri- 
can who  has  taken  the  trouble  to  study  the  problem  histor- 
ically and  by  actual  observation,  what  these  demands  are 
and  what  measure  of  justice  there  is  behind  them.  The 
term  Home  Rule,  of  course,  carries  its  own  definition.  Ire- 
land demands  that  her  laws,  now  made  and  administered  by 
a  people  foreign  in  blood,  in  religion  and  in  sympathy,  shall 
be  made  and  administered  by  Irishmen.  She  demands  self- 
government,  instead  of  government  by  an  alien  class;  a  gov- 
nent  which  shall  be  created  by  the  votes  of  the  Irish 


THE  CONQUESTS  187 

people  and  shall  be  responsive  and  responsible  to  them — in 
other  words,  a  free  Irish  Parliament  and  an  Irish  executive 
responsible  to  the  elected  body.  There  is,  in  truth,  a  section 
which  goes  far  beyond  this,  which  demands  complete  sepa- 
ration from  Great  Britain  and  the  erection  of  an  independ- 
ent nation.  But  this  policy,  however  inspiring  it  may  be  to 
men  whose  very  souls  have  been  embittered  by  brooding 
upon  past  wrongs,  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  prac- 
tical politics  at  this  time.  Whatever  the  future  may  hold,  it 
is  fairly  obvious  that  Home  RuleT  as  it  is  usually  defined,  is 
the  vital  and  living  ambition  of  the  people. 

Are  all  the  great  reforms,  then,  which  have  been  dis- 
cussed in  previous  chapters  to  be  dismissed  as  useless? 
Hardly  that,  yet  they  alone  can  never  satisfy  the  Irish 
people,  can  never  establish  peace  and  prosperity  on  a  sound 
and  permanent  basis.  The  inmates  of  an  almshouse  are 
free  from  care;  all  economic  problems  have  been  solved  for 
them ;  yet  they  often  are  so  ungrateful  as  to  yearn  for  some- 
thing else — independence.  The  metaphor  is  extremely 
faulty,  yet  it  has  a  hazy  sort  of  application  to  the  Irish 
demand  for  Home  Rule.  The  impossible  system  of  land 
tenure,  with  all  its  attendant  evils,  is  being  wiped  out;  the 
people  are  being  made  owners  of  their  lar^s — paying  full 
price  for  them;  control  of  local  affairs  L«s  been  put  into 
their  hands;  an  earnest  and  successful  effort  is  being  made 
to  lift  the  more  helpless  victims  of  poverty;  equality  has 
been  granted  in  facilities  for  higher  education.  And  still 
there  remains  the  great  unsatisfied  demand  for  self-govern- 
ment. Still  Ireland  remains  sullen,  resenting  and  resisting 
the  system  which  affronts  the  national  spirit,  and  which  it 
declares  is  cumbersome,  costly  and  wholly  inefficient. 

These  charges  will  be  taken  up  in  detail.  The  govern- 
ment of  Ireland  will  be  examined  from  the  viewpoints  of 
utility,  expediency  and  political  justice,  and  the  national 
demand  explained  more  fully.  Meanwhile,  it  may  be 
remarked  that  no  one  can  understand  the  Irish  question 
without  some  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  country. 
The  evils  of  misgovernment  and  of  land  oppression  that 
are  visible  to-day  are  not  of  recent  growth;  they  have  their 
roots  in  centuries  long  past.    The  half-starved  peasant  in 


1 88      THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


Connemara  is  the  descendant  of  the  victims  of  Tudor 
aggression;  the  grotesque  extravagance  and  futility  of  Dub- 
lin Castle  were  founded  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries.  Before  attempting  to  deal,  therefore,  with  the 
present  system  of  government  in  Ireland  we  shall  take  a 
rapid  survey  of  the  country's  history.  Assuredly  this  is 
lecessary  for  American  understanding  of  the  problems,  for 
even  in  matters  historical  the  English  and  Irish  viewpoints 
are  hopelessly  at  variance.  To  most  Englishmen — though 
to  less  now  than  at  any  other  period — the  story  of  Ireland 
is  the  story  of  a  backward,  "impossible"  people,  who  for 
centuries  have  retarded  their  growth  and  the  spread  of 
civilization  by  resisting  the  blessings  of  English  rule.  Few 
of  them  nowadays  will  go  so  far  as  to  defend  the  atrocities 
of  the  "conquests,"  plantations  and  confiscations,  but  at 
heart  they  do  believe  that  most  of  the  woes  of  the  country 
are  due  to  inherent  defects  in  the  Irish  character,  especially 
that  defect  which  prevents  recognition  of  English  institu- 
tions as  the  best  for  all  races  under  the  sun. 

The  evils  of  the  past,  they  say,  have  been  atoned  for; 
justice  is  being  done;  why  rake  up  wrongs  of  history  that 
should  be  forgotten?  Why  persist  in  dwelling  upon  the 
past?  Irish  history  is  not  taught  to  English  children,  and 
only  in  recent  years  has  its  teaching  to  Irish  children  been 
permitted.  To  Irishmen,  on  the  contrary,  the  history  of 
their  country  is  a  constant  inspiration.  The  land  is  sown 
with  ruins,  every  one  of  which  is  the  center  of  heroic  legend 
or  story.  The  record  is  inspiring  because  it  is  filled  with 
the  names  of  brave  men  and  the  tales  of  brave  deeds — 
because,  in  fact,  the  very  suppression  of  Irish  nationality 
and  Irish  progress  has  left  the  people  little  else  to  venerate. 
In  the  face  of  England's  stolid  assumption  of  superiority, 
it  is  comforting  for  them  to  recall  that  while  England  was 
still  in  the  mists  of  paganism  Ireland  was  bright  with  a 
rude  sort  of  culture  and  a  Christian  civilization,  and  that 
until  brute  force  and  persecution  had  done  their  work  Ire- 
land was  the  custodian  of  knowledge  and  the  teacher  of 
Europe.  The  history  of  these  early  days,  much  of  which  is 
legendary,  may  be  treated  very  briefly.  Geographically 
isolated,   Ireland  escaped  Roman  invasion  and  bears  no 


THE  CONQUESTS  189 

marks  of  Roman  institutions.  Her  development  was  inde- 
pendent, from  within.  During  the  tirst  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era,  students  declare,  there  existed  in  the  land  a 
civilization  of  an  advanced  type,  considering  the  time. 
Tribal  organizations  ruled  society,  each  having  an  elected 
chieftain.  The  tribes  were  united  in  groups,  or  clans,  and 
these  were  grouped  again  into  the  five  kingdoms  of  Ulster, 
Munster,  Leinster,  Connaught  and  Meath,  all  owning  a 
sentimental  allegiance  to  the  King  of  all  Ireland,  whose  seat 
was  at  the  famed  hill  of  Tara  and  whose  sovereignty 
eventually  settled  in  the  powerful  family  of  the  O'Neills. 
The  art  and  the  system  of  laws  of  this  period  show  a  high 
state  of  development,  but  it  is  the  literature  which  stiH 
remains  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  scholars.  Of  she 
manuscripts  that  have  survived,  L.  Paul-Dubois,  a  French 
authority,  says : 

"They  comprise  prose  and  verse,  stories  and  poems, 
history  and  fiction.  In  them  are  found  mingled  primitive 
rudeness  and  exquisite  delicacy,  an  oriental  imaginativeness 
and  a  strong  common  sense.  Exhibiting,  as  they  do,  a  com- 
bination of  freshness  of  feeling,  delicacy  of  sentiment  and 
at  the  same  time  perfect  naturalness,  these  remains  have 
proved  a  literary  inspiration  to  the  greatest  modern  poets, 
to  Tennyson  and  Swinburne,  for  instance,  in  our  own  time. 
It  was  from  Ireland  that  Europe  received  her  first  love 
song.  It  was  the  Irish  who  invented  rhyme,  in  all  its 
varied  forms,  single  or  double,  final,  initial  or  medial, 
including  the  most  elaborate  assonances  and  alliterations. 
And  it  is  remarkable  that  we  never  find  in  the  bardic  litera- 
ture that  exuberance  of  diction  and  exaggeration  of  form 
that  often  grates  upon  us  in  the  later  epics.  They  show,  on 
the  contrary,  as  we  are  told  by  Dr.  Sigerson,  'classic  reserve 
in  thought,  form  and  expression.'  It  is  no  exaggeration  to 
say,  with  this  learned  Irishman,  that  the  literary  scepter 
once  wielded  by  Rome  fell  in  later  times  to  Celtic  Ireland." 

But  more  important  than  the  glory  of  ancient  Irish 
literature  was  the  fading  of  paganism  before  the  light  of 
Christianity.  This  transformation  was  brought  about  in  the 
fifth  century,  chiefly  through  the  ministrations  of  St.  Pat- 
rick, "the  Apostle  of  Ireland, M  and  the  religion  took  such  a 


i9o      THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 

hold  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people  that  Ireland 
became  the  center  from  which  Christianity  radiated 
throughout  Europe.  Not  only  did  Irish  missionaries  travel 
far  and  wide  throughout  the  continent,  spreading  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Church,  but  the  island  became  a  Mecca  for  the 
students  of  many  nations.  Latin  and  Greek,  science  and 
theology,  philosophy  and  literature  were  taught  at  scores  of 
schools.  To  the  institutions  at  Clonfert,  Armagh,  Lismore 
and  elsewhere  came  thousands  of  young  men  from  Gaul, 
from  Italy  and  from  the  northern  countries.  Of  the  famed 
University  of  Clonmacnoise  the  ruins  still  stand. 

"From  the  fifth  to  the  eighth  century,"  says  L.  Paul- 
Dubois,  "Ireland  was  the  refuge  and  the  home  of  modern 
culture,  and  may  truly  be  said  to  have  saved  European  civil- 
ization in  the  days  of  the  barbarian  incursions. " 

Such  was  the  glory  of  ancient  Ireland,  to  be  extin- 
guished by  successive  waves  of  plundering  invasion.  Those 
who  are  inclined  to  wonder  at  the  desperate  situation  of 
Ireland  before  the  late  nineteenth  century  era  of  reform 
should  remember  that  that  condition  was  the  result  of  seven 
hundred  years  of  spoliation.  Much  in  the  way  of  destruc- 
tion can  be  accomplished  in  seven  centuries,  and  the  marvel 
is  that  the  race  survived  at  all. 

The  "Golden  Age,"  as  it  has  been  called,  when  Ireland 
was  the  guardian  of  western  learning  and  the  Christian 
religion,  lasted  from  the  fifth  to  early  in  the  ninth  century. 
Then  the  first  blow  fell.  By  rapid  and  ruthless  invasions 
the  Northmen  overran  the  island,  founding  towns  on  the 
seaboard,  from  which  they  penetrated  to  the  interior.  They 
destroyed  every  institution  of  learning  they  found.  Schools 
and  libraries,  with  their  priceless  manuscripts,  were  burned 
and  Irish  civilization  all  but  extinguished.  After  less  than 
two  hundred  years,  however,  the  resilience  of  the  race 
asserted  itself.  The  Danes,  defeated  more  than  once,  were 
decisively  routed  in  1014  by  Brian  Boru,  and  the  restoration 
of  Irish  power  was  marked  by  a  remarkable  renaissance 
of  Irish  literature  and  art  and  religion.  Manuscripts  multi- 
plied, schools  and  churches  were  rebuilt  and  Irish  mission- 
aries once  more  penetrated  barbarian  Europe.  Everything 
promised  a  permanent  revival  of  civilization  in  the  island, 


THE  CONQUESTS 


and  had  the  country  been  permitted  to  work  out  its  own 
destinies  a  strong  nation  would  have  been  established.  But 
fate  gave  her  no  time.  The  English  invasions  began,  and 
Ireland  was  doomed  to  seven  hundred  years  of  unrest, 
oppression  and  persecution. 

The  first  "civilizing"  expedition  from  across  the  Irish 
Sea  was  that  of  Richard,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  better  known  as 
"Strongbow,"  who  was  invited  over  in  1169  by  Dermot 
MacMurrough,  King  of  Leinster,  as  an  ally  against  Rod- 
erick O'Connor,  "High  King"  of  Ireland.  It  is  said  that 
the  invasion  was  sanctioned  by  Adrian  IV,  Nicholas  Break- 
speare,  the  only  Englishman  who  ever  became  Pope.  At  any 
rate,  Henry  II  soon  followed  Strongbow,  established  him- 
self for  a  short  time  in  Dublin  and  had  himself  recognized  as 
Overlord  of  Ireland,  asserting  his  claim  under  the  papal  bull. 

This  was  the  entering  wedge,  to  be  driven  home  by 
three  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  invasion.  Almost  without 
interruption,  during  this  long  period,  a  stream  of  English 
colonists  and  adventurers  poured  into  the  country.  Grad- 
ually they  established  a  rude  authority  over  a  strip  of  land 
on  the  east  coast  called  the  "English  pale,"  which  extended, 
at  its  greatest  development,  to  not  more  than  one-third  of 
the  area  of  the  island.  Outside  of  that  territory  the  Eng- 
lish could  do  no  more  than  foster  dissensions  among  the 
Ir;*h  clans,  and  so  prevent  a  united  attack. 

It  should  be  observed  that  in  no  sense  did  the  English 
conquer  Ireland  during  these  three  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
Indeed,  the  "pale"  was  in  constant  danger  from  Irish  incur- 
sions, and  outside  of  it  English  authority  was  unknown. 
Moreover,  there  was  no  permanency  of  settlement  even 
within  the  "pale."  Most  of  the  colonists  and  adventurers 
to  whom  grants  of  Irish  land  had  been  made  exploited  the 
country  as  far  as  they  were  able  and  then  returned  to  Eng- 
land, to  be  replaced  by  others.  And  those  who  remained 
became,  in  two  or  three  generations,  quite  assimilated  with 
the  natives.  They  adopted  Irish  customs  and  Irish  dress, 
took  Irish  wives  and  spoke  the  Irish  language.  So  danger- 
ous was  this  fusion  of  the  races  to  English  ascendency  that 
in  1367  a  statute  was  issued  punishing  the  acts  specified  by 
death  or  imprisonment.    To  widen  the  chasm  between  the 


1 92      THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


two  peoples  the  Irish  were  actually  outlawed;  except  as  a 
special  favor,  they  could  not  claim  the  benefits  of  feudalism, 
while  they  felt  all  of  its  rigors.  Yet  even  this  savage  legis- 
lation did  not  completely  check  the  assimilation  of  the  races. 
Moreover,  there  grew  up  an  intermediate  people,  called  the 
"Anglo-Irish,"  who,  the  loyalists  complained,  were  more 
Irish  than  the  Irish  themselves.  These  attached  themselves 
to  powerful  Anglo-Norman  families,  such  as  the  Fitzgcr- 
alds,  the  Butlers,  the  Desmonds  and  the  Burkes  (de 
Burgh),  which,  in  time,  usurped  the  power  of  the  Crown 
within  the  "pale"  and  made  alliances  at  will  with  the  great 
Gaelic  chieftains.  Thus  by  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century 
the  "pale"  had  shrunk  to  a  narrow  strip  of  country  around 
Dublin,  threatened  constantly  by  the  proud  and  turbulent 
lords  of  the  Anglo-Irish,  while  all  the  rest  of  Ireland  had 
reverted  to  the  old  Gaelic  clan  system.  After  more  than 
three  hundred  years  the  conquest  had  failed. 

But  the  next  wave  of  invasion,  to  extend  over  a  period 
of  two  hundred  years,  was  to  be  more  successful,  as  it  was 
more  ruthless,  than  the  last.  The  Tudor  sovereigns  were 
merciless,  but  they  were  fairly  thorough.  Under  Henry 
VII  English  armies  penetrated  even  into  Connaught. 
Henry  VIII  set  himself  resolutely  to  break  the  power  of 
the  Anglo-Irish  nobles  as  he  had  broken  the  power  of  the 
English  barons.  Having  accomplished  this,  he  sought  to 
establish  peace  in  the  distracted  country  by  conciliating  the 
Celtic  aristocracy.  He  won  over  some  of  the  great  chief- 
tains, gave  them  lands  taken  from  the  monasteries  and  con- 
ferred upon  them  English  titles — Earl  of  Tyrone,  Earl  of 
Tyrconnel,  Earl  of  Dunraven  and  so  on.  Thus  when  in 
1542  he  assumed  the  title  of  King  of  Ireland  the  country 
was  relatively  at  peace,  and  remained  so  until  his  death. 
But  this  was  not  to  last.  Under  Mary  and  Elizabeth  and 
the  Stuarts  the  policy  of  conciliation  was  abandoned  and  a 
policy  of  plunder  and  oppression  substituted.  It  was 
decreed  that  by  force  of  arms  Celtic  civilization  should  be 
wiped  out,  to  be  replaced  by  English  civilization.  Where 
Henry  VIII  had  respected  and  protected  native  customs 
and  laws  it  was  ordered  that  English  laws  and  English 
institutions  should  be  made  supreme.    But  the  real  core  of 


THE  CONQUESTS 


*93 


the  policy  was  that  the  soil  of  Ireland  should  be  confiscated 
and  then  "planted"  with  Englishmen. 

Under  Queen  Mary,  King's  and  Queen's  counties  were 
established  from  confiscated  territory  and  English  settlers 
placed  on  the  lands.  Under  Elizabeth,  the  Desmonds  were 
maltreated  into  rebellion,  then  their  lands,  comprising  about 
the  whole  province  of  Munster,  were  seized  and  distributed 
among  English  adventurers  and  speculators.  When  the 
Earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnell  arose  under  James  I  a 
similar  operation  confiscated  all  of  Ulster,  and  nearly 
30,000  of  the  King's  Scotch  subjects  were  "planted"  where 
the  Irish  had  been.  A  more  characteristic  act  of  James  was 
his  abolition  of  the  Gaelic  system  of  land  tenure  and  the 
substitution  of  the  English  system;  this  destroyed  the  efficacy 
of  countless  titles,  and  nearly  half  a  million  acres  more  were 
confiscated.  Naturally,  these  vast  depredations  were  not 
carried  out  without  bloodshed.  There  were  three  great 
insurrections  under  Elizabeth  alone,  and  each  was  put  down 
with  merciless  severity.  The  policy  was  ingeniously  devised 
to  expedite  the  seizure  of  the  coveted  territories.  The  rebel- 
lions were  deliberately  provoked  by  treachery  and  oppression, 
then  put  down  by  wholesale  massacre. 

"The  suppression  of  the  native  race/'  says  Lecky,  "was 
carried  out  with  a  ferocity  which  surpassed  that  of  Alva  in 
the  Netherlands,  and  has  seldom  been  exceeded  in  the  pages 
of  history." 

The  wars  were  wars  of  extermination,  not  conquest. 
The  expeditions  waged  campaigns  of  systematic  butchery, 
sparing  neither  men  nor  women  nor  children,  while  those 
who  survived  crept  forth  from  their  hiding  places  to  find  the 
country  devastated  and  to  starve  amid  the  desolation.  The 
annals  of  the  time — English  as  well  as  Irish — sicken  the 
reader  with  their  records  of  savagery.  An  English  official 
in  1582  wrote  that  within  six  months  30,000  persons  had 
died  of  starvation  in  Munster,  besides  those  who  had  been 
butchered  by  the  soldiery.  Even  during  periods  of  peace 
the  English  governors  sedulously  continued  the  work  of 
extermination  by  laying  waste  all  the  country  they  could 
cover.  In  the  last  years  of  the  sixteenth  century  one-half 
the  population  perished.  Elizabeth's  rule  over  Ireland  was 
13 


194      THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


complete.  But,  says  a  historian,  "she  reigned  over  corpses 
and  ashes." 

Yet,  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the  ruthless  work  of 
"conquest"  was  revived  and  continued  during  almost  the 
whole  of  the  seventeenth  century.  New  elements,  however, 
entered  into  the  English  policy.  To  the  lust  for  land  were 
added  political  revenge  and  religious  persecution.  In  both 
the  Stuart  revolutions — that  which  cost  Charles  I  his  head 
and  that  which  cost  James  II  his  throne — the  Irish  took  the 
losing  side,  and  suffered  the  vengeance  of  the  victorious  party 
for  their  mistaken  loyalty  to  the  condemned  house.  Like- 
wise, for  rejecting  the  reformation  and  clinging  to  Roman 
Catholicism,  the  Irish  called  down  upon  themselves  the 
rigors  of  persecution.  Built  upon  the  successive  "planta- 
tions" and  enriched  with  the  confiscated  property  of  monas- 
teries, the  Anglican  Church  conducted  a  campaign  against 
the  obdurate  natives.  To  this  were  added  the  forcible  settle^ 
ment  of  Ulster  with  Scotchmen  and  the  spoliation  of  native 
landholders  under  the  cloak  of  legal  enactments.  In  effect, 
to  be  Irish  was  to  be  exposed  to  every  form  of  oppression. 
The  hatred  and  despair  engendered  by  these  things  burst  at 
last  into  the  Catholic  rebellion  of  1641. 

The  Protestant  settlers  of  Ulster  suffered  first,  some 
thousands  of  them  being  slain.  Soon  the  insurgents  were 
supreme  throughout  Catholic  Ireland,  established  their  own 
Parliament  and  entered  into  a  compact  with  the  doomed 
King,  Charles  I.  This  was  fatal,  though  doubtless  they 
would  have  felt  the  iron  hand  of  Cromwell  in  any  event. 
When  he  had  crushed  the  royalists  in  England  the  Protector 
turned  deliberately  upon  Ireland.  There  is  no  redder  page 
in  history  than  that  which  records  this  invasion  of  Ireland. 
Cromwell  landed  in  the  country  in  1649  and  marched  upon 
the  rebels,  and  at  every  stamp  of  his  foot  the  land  gushed 
blood.  The  garrison  of  Drogheda  was  massacred,  30,000 
men.  Wexford  was  taken  and  the  defenders  put  to  the 
sword.  Wherever  a  rebel  was  captured  he  was  shot  or 
hanged.  Merciless  measures  followed  the  "pacification" 
of  the  country.  Shiploads  of  Irish,  including  women  and 
children,  were  sent  as  slaves  to  the  West  Indies.  Thousands 
of  men  were  driven  as  exiles  to  France  and  Spain.  Crom- 


THE  CONQUESTS 


195 


well's  policy  of  exterminating  the  Irish  and  substituting  an 
English  population  was  as  nearly  successful  as  such  an  enter- 
prise could  be.  The  provinces  of  Ulster,  Munster  and 
Leinster  were  confiscated  and  the  land  divided  among  the 
Roundhead  soldiers  and  the  speculators  who  had  advanced 
to  Parliament  the  funds  for  the  "conquest."  Connaught 
alone,  as  the  least  fertile  of  the  provinces,  was  reserved  for 
the  Irish  owners  of  the  country.  There  they  might  settle, 
and  nowhere  else.  Death  was  decreed  against  any  Irishman 
found  east  of  the  Shannon  river. 

"The  Irish  shall  go  to  hell  or  Connaught  lM  was  Crom- 
well's phrase. 

It  was  Cromwell,  then,  who  made  modern  Ireland, 
with  all  its  afflicting  evils.  Yet  he  did  not  quite  carry  out 
his  pitiless  program.  The  Irish  continued  to  exist  in  Con- 
naught, and  also  in  the  other  provinces,  because  the  English 
colonists  wanted  to  use  them  as  laborers.  The  "extermina- 
tion" was  so  incomplete,  to  use  a  contradictory  phrase,  that 
in  less  than  fifty  years  the  Irish  were  able  to  rebel  again. 
Lured  by  the  promises  of  the  hunted  James  II  that  the 
rights  of  Catholics  would  be  restored  by  him,  they  rose 
against  the  English.  They  assembled  their  own  Parliament, 
and.  remembering  past  wrongs,  sought  revenge  by  dealing 
to  Protestants  discriminatory  laws  such  as  they  themselves 
had  suffered  under.  The  Battle  of  the  Boyne  ended  their 
hopes,  and  a  million  acres  more  were  confiscated  by  William 
III  and  "planted"  with  men  of  the  dominant  minority. 
This  was  the  last  of  the  great  "plantations,"  one  reason 
being  that  the  work  was  virtually  completed,  and  the  Irish 
landowner  was  eradicated  in  favor  of  the  English  adven- 
turer and  speculator.  The  reader  will  begin  to  understand 
now  the  origin  of  that  interminable  "land  problem"  which 
the  laborious  legislation  of  the  last  forty  years  has 
attempted  to  solve. 

But  what  was  the  final  situation  left  by  these  centuries 
of  attempted  conquest,  during  which  wars,  "plantations," 
rebellions  and  massacres  followed  one  another  in  ghastly 
monotony?  What  was  the  result  of  the  successive  "con- 
quests" by  Norman,  Plantagenet,  Tudor,  Stuart,  Round- 
head and  Orange  invasion? 


196      THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


It  is  true  that  the  Irish  people  were  crushed  into  sub- 
mission, but  the  ''conquest,"  instead  of  welding  a  strong, 
united  nation,  simply  intensified  the  division  between  the 
races  and  piled  up  the  gigantic  debt  which  the  British 
Empire  is  now  paying.  The  cleavage  between  the  two 
peoples,  which  had  been  merely  racial,  was  widened  by 
social,  religious  and  political  prejudices.  On  the  one  side 
were  the  English  and  Scotch  Protestants,  directly  or  by 
inheritance  the  beneficiaries  of  the  invasions  and  "planta- 
tions." These  held  the  land,  the  wealth  and  the  political 
power  of  the  country.  The  government  was  theirs,  the  laws 
were  theirs,  the  courts  were  theirs,  all  offices  and  preferment 
were  theirs.  Even  the  church  of  the  majority  of  them  (the 
Anglican)  was  a  state  church,  endowed  with  confiscated 
Irish  lands  and  supported  by  public  taxes. 

On  the  other  side  were  all  the  rest  of  the  people,  a  vast 
majority,  professing  the  condemned  Catholic  faith.  Irish, 
Anglo-Irish  and  English,  they  had  neither  land,  nor  wealth, 
nor  political  power,  nor  fair  standing  before  the  law;  they 
were  united  by  a  common  misery  and  a  common  hatred  of 
England.  In  studying  the  present  Home  Rule  demand, 
then,  we  turn  from  1909  back  to  1689.  The  two  succeed- 
ing centuries  must  also  be  examined. 


XXIII 
PENAL  LAWS 

The  invasions,  "plantations"  and  massacres  of  the  pre- 
ceding three  hundred  years  had  been  so  effective  that  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  found  Ireland  quite 
crushed.  The  land,  wealth  and  political  power  of  the  coun- 
try were  in  the  hands  of  the  English  and  Protestant  minor- 
ity; the  Irish  majority  were  sullen,  but  helpless  and  hope- 
less, submissive  to  the  government  inflicted  upon  them 
because  resistance  meant  more  massacres  and  wider  starva- 
tion. But  while  the  "conquest"  was  in  this  sense  complete, 
the  English  "garrison"  was  not  satisfied.  It  deemed  it 
necessary  to  protect  the  future,  to  make  impossible  the 
restoration  of  the  stolen  land  and  stolen  rights  to  the  Irish. 
Though  landless  and  powerless,  they  were  still  a  menace  by 
their  very  numbers  and  by  the  spirit  of  unity  resulting  from 
their  common  misery  and  religion.  They  must  be  outlawed 
for  all  time.  Having  been  robbed  by  every  kind  of  violence, 
it  remained  only  to  give  the  robbery  a  form  of  legal  sanction. 

The  obvious  resort  was  religious  persecution,  not  by 
the  coarse  methods  of  the  rack  and  the  stake,  for  these  had 
simply  stimulated  faith,  whether  used  against  Catholics  or 
Protestants,  but  by  the  more  deadly  methods  of  legislation. 
To  the  era  of  land  confiscation,  then,  succeeded  the  era  of 
penal  laws.  This  form  of  oppression  is  the  distinguishing 
infamy  of  the  misgovernment  of  Ireland  during  the  eight- 
eenth century.  Some  historians  believe  that  it  would  have 
been  possible  to  weld  the  two  peoples  at  the  beginning  of 
that  century  into  a  strong,  united  nation.  As  we  have  seen, 
they  were  widely  apart  in  social,  political  and  religious  sym- 
pathies, but  under  a  decent  and  equitable  system  of  govern- 
ment the  Irish  would  gradually  have  assimilated  the  minor- 
ity, as  they  had  assimilated  many  of  the  early  "planters" 
and  many  of  the  invading  soldiery.    England  and  the  "gar- 

197 


198      THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


rison,"  however,  set  themselves  deliberately  to  widen  the 
breach  instead  of  closing  it,  and  thus  perpetuated  the  enmi- 
ties and  the  wrongs  which  have  existed  to  this  day.  The 
Irish  suffered  also  from  the  inherent  weakness  of  the  system 
above  them.  They  were  ruled  by  the  English  "garrison," 
but  the  "garrison"  was  in  turn  subject  to  the  schemes  and 
whims  of  the  government  in  London.  Thus  all  sense  of 
responsibility  was  submerged  in  selfish  interests.  England 
worked  to  wring  all  she  could  from  both  the  peoples  in  Ire- 
land, indifferent  to  the  rights  of  either,  while  the  "garrison" 
exploited  to  the  utmost  the  helpless  majority.  The  Irish 
had  to  bear  the  double  burden. 

As  to  the  penal  laws,  the  chosen  weapons  of  spoliation 
during  the  eighteenth  century,  it  is  hard  for  Americans  to 
realize  that  only  two  hundred  years  ago  such  monstrous 
perversions  were  cloaked  with  the  dignity  and  force  of  legal 
enactment.  They  were  deliberately  designed  to  exclude  the 
majority  of  the  Irish  people  not  only  from  political  power, 
but  from  free  ownership  of  property,  from  the  benefits  of 
education  and  the  consolations  of  their  religion. 

"It  would  not  be  difficult,"  writes  Goldwin  Smith,  the 
venerable  Canadian  philosopher  and  historian,  "to  point  to 
persecuting  laws  more  sanguinary  than  these.  But  it  would 
be  difficult  to  point  to  any  more  insulting  to  the  best  feelings 
of  man  or  more  degrading  to  religion." 

A  brief  but  effective  summary  of  the  penal  laws  is  given 
by  L.  Paul-Dubois. 

"Violence,"  he  says,  "was  united  to  hypocrisy,  perfidy 
to  corruption,  and  the  highest  honors  and  rewards  were 
reserved  for  the  apostate  and  informer."  The  scope  of  the 
statutes — which  were  passed  between  1695  and  1709 — he 
defines  thus: 

"Catholic  worship  was  tolerated,  but  only  on  sufferance.  All 
public  ceremonies  and  all  pilgrimages  were  prohibited;  even  bells 
and  crosses  were  interdicted.  The  ordination  of  any  new  clergy- 
men was  forbidden  by  law;  decree  of  banishment  was  passed  against 
all  bishops  and  members  of  religious  orders,  and  death  was  to  be 
their  punishment  in  case  they  returned  to  Ireland.  Secular  priests 
could  not  exercise  their  office,  under  pain  of  deportation,  until  they 
had  registered  themselves  and  taken  not  merely  an  oath  of  alle- 
giance, but  an  oath  of  abjuration,  which  their  Church  forbade  them 
to  take.    Every  Papist  was  ordered,  under  pain  of  fine,  to  inform 


PENAL  LAWS 


199 


against  his  clergyman.  On  the  other  hand,  a  public  pension  was 
assigned  by  the  state  to  every  priest  who  should  turn  Protestant. 
As  for  the  Catholic  laity,  they  were  deprived  of  all  political  rights 
whatever.  They  were  forbidden  to  act  as  teachers,  under  pain  of 
banishment.  They  were  forbidden  to  have  their  children  educated, 
except  by  Protestants,  or  to  have  them  educated  abroad.  They  were 
debarred  from  obtaining  any  public  employment  or  practicing  any 
liberal  profession  except  that  of  medicine. 

"They  could  not  hold  property  in  land  or  take  land  on  lease 
for  a  longer  term  than  thirty  years,  and  then  only  on  the  harshest 
conditions.  If  they  engaged  in  trade  or  industry,  they  had  to  pay 
a  special  tax,  and  could  not  employ  more  than  two  apprentices. 
They  were  forbidden  to  carry  arms  or  to  own  a  horse  of  greater 
value  than  £5.  They  could  not  act  as  guardians  of  their  own  chil- 
dren, nor  marry  a  Protestant  wife,  nor  inherit  an  estate  from  a 
Protestant  relative.  Moreover,  the  property  of  a  Catholic  was 
equally  divided  among  his  children  on  his  death,  the  law  of  primo- 
geniture being  confined  to  Protestants.  The  object  of  this  last 
provision  was,  of  course,  to  secure  that  if  a  Catholic  chanced  to 
make  a  fortune  it  should  soon  be  dissipated.  While  Catholics  were 
forbidden  to  engage  in  educational  pursuits,  the  country  was 
studded  over  with  Protestant  schools,  where  the  children  of  Papists 
could  receive  free  tuition.  It  was  not  merely  the  persecution  of  a 
religion,  it  was  an  attempt  to  degrade  and  demoralize  a  whole 
nation.  It  was  sought  at  any  cost  to  keep  Papists  in  misery,  igno- 
rance and  slavery,  and  this  with  no  other  purpose  save  to  assure 
the  Protestant  ascendency.  The  'planters'  who  had  come  to  Ireland 
in  the  time  of  Cromwell  or  William  III  knew  how  precarious  was 
their  title  to  the  land,  and  they  thus  sought  to  adopt  means  that 
could  not  fail  to  assure  their  position." 

If  these  persecutions,  which  even  Englishmen  must 
abhor,  had  been  due  to  an  outburst  of  religious  fanaticism 
merely,  they  would  have  no  extended  place  in  these  letters, 
which  aim  to  treat  only  of  the  economic  and  political  status 
of  Ireland.  But  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  infamous  penal 
laws  were  inspired  not  by  zealotry,  but  by  greed. 

"Pure  religious  fanaticism,"  wrote  Lecky,  "does  not 
indeed  appear  ever  to  have  played  a  dominant  part  in  this 
legislation.  The  object  of  the  penal  laws,  even  in  the  worst 
period,  was  much  less  to  produce  a  change  of  religion  than 
to  secure  property  and  power  by  reducing  to  complete  impo- 
tence those  who  had  formerly  possessed  them." 

Thus  we  find  that  the  penal  laws  had  a  deadly  effect  in 
stripping  the  Irish  people  of  their  political  rights  and  their 
land,  and  the  results  are  manifest  to-day  in  the  evils  of  mis- 
government  and  of  the  land  system  which  is  now  disappear- 
ing.   After  fifty  years  of  enforcement  the  severity  of  the 


200       THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


statutes  was  allowed  to  relax,  as  they  had  accomplished  the 
designed  purpose.  Very  few  of  the  Irish  had  been  driven 
or  tempted  to  profess  religious  "conversion/'  and  their  chil- 
dren continued  to  be  educated  in  "hedge  schools,"  the  main- 
tenance of  which  Lecky  regards  as  "one  of  the  most  honor- 
able features  in  their  history!"  But  the  persecution  started 
a  stream  of  emigration  of  the  best  elements  among  the 
people,  a  drain  which  was  never  to  cease,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  transformed  those  who  remained  into  a  race  of 
slaves.  Those  who  fled  to  the  Continent  filled  the  pages  of 
war  history  with  the  records  of  Irish  valor,  and  took  revenge 
upon  England  at  Fontenoy  and  Dettingen;  those  left 
behind,  robbed  of  every  right  of  freemen  and  worn  out 
from  massacre  and  oppression,  sank  into  sullen  serfdom. 
Nationality  was  extinguished.  The  people  were  inert,  hope- 
less, exhausted.  Poverty  spread  among  them  like  a  plague, 
and  there  was  no  strength  to  resist  it.  At  intervals  of  a  few 
years  came  famines,  that  of  1741  being  so  desperate  that 
one-third  of  the  poor  of  Munster  died  of  hunger  and  fever. 
As  the  black  years  rolled  on  the  very  despair  of  the  people 
bred  lawlessness  and  violence;  there  were  bloody  risings 
against  the  extortion  of  the  landlords  and  the  extortion  of 
the  state  church  in  the  form  of  tithes.  Of  course,  these 
agrarian  rebellions  met  punishment  swift  and  terrible — 
imprisonment,  hanging  and  transportation  by  wholesale. 
So  the  weary  tale  went  on. 

It  could  not  last.  The  very  barbarity  of  the  system 
reacted  upon  those  who  inflicted  it.  The  minority  which 
held  the  power  became  infected  with  the  weaknesses  of 
despotism.  Luxury  bred  extravagance  and  extravagance 
bred  corruption.  Moreover,  the  tyranny  which  this  class 
practiced  against  the  Irish  majority  invited  tyranny  upon 
itself.  England  treated  the  ruling  minority  in  Ireland  with 
the  harshness  and  contempt  it  had  earned,  though  she  did 
so  for  selfish  reasons  and  with  no  thought  of  revenging  the 
victims  of  the  system.  The  Irish  Parliament — a  wholly 
Protestant  body,  Catholics  being  ineligible  for  membership, 
and  even  to  vote  at  the  elections — was  stripped  of  all  real 
authority,  all  its  acts  being  subject  to  approval  in  London. 
Furthermore,  England  deliberately  strangled  Irish  industry 


PENAL  LAWS  201 

and  trade,  those  who  suffered  directly  being  chiefly  Prot- 
estants, since  the  penal  laws  had  made  it  virtually  impos- 
sible for  Catholics  to  engage  profitably  in  commerce.  The 
effect  was  felt  most  severely  in  Ulster,  whence  200,000 
Presbyterians  emigrated  in  fifty  years,  most  of  them  settling 
in  America,  where  they  added  vigor  to  the  revolutionary 
spirit  that  freed  the  colonies. 

England  had  gone  too  far.  She  was  destined  to  see 
Protestants  and  Catholics  united  against  her,  and  Irish  inde- 
pendence proclaimed  throughout  the  land,  and  this  before 
the  end  of  the  century  in  which  the  most  sweeping  persecu- 
tion had  all  but  stamped  out  Irish  nationality.  Not  all  of 
the  Protestant  minority  accepted  tamely  the  oppression  from 
London.  In  the  course  of  years  there  arose  in  the  colony  a 
third  party,  whose  main  principle  was  that  the  welfare  of 
Ireland  as  a  whole  should  be  held  superior  to  any  other  con- 
sideration, especially  to  the  interests  of  England.  The 
greatest  of  these  ''Irish  Whigs"  were  Edmund  Burke  and 
Henry  Grattan,  and  one  saying  of  the  latter,  a  Protestant, 
illustrates  an  important  phase  of  the  new  party's  policy. 

uThe  Irish  Protestant  never  can  be  free,"  said  this 
Protestant  leader,  "while  the  Irish  Catholic  is  a  slave." 

Deep-rooted  as  was  the  minority's  hatred  and  fear  of 
the  majority,  these  men  and  their  followers  were  big  enough 
to  despise  and  oppose  it.  For  the  theory  that  the  great  mass 
of  the  citizens  must  be  ground  down  and  oppressed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  few,  they  substituted  the  idea  of  Irish  nation- 
ality. It  took  root  and  grew,  and  religious  differences  no 
longer  operated  to  prevent  Ireland's  presenting  a  united 
front  to  England.  There  were  heard  demands  for  justice, 
for  liberation  from  the  intolerable  burden  of  misrule  by  a 
selfish  minority  in  Ireland  and  an  indifferent  government  in 
England.  Perhaps  the  movement  would  have  succeeded  in 
any  event,  but  that  which  turned  the  scale  was  the  American 
Revolution.  The  militia  of  40,000  raised  by  Ireland  for 
defense  in  1776  gave  a  hint  of  the  country's  power.  Its 
demands  became  more  imperative,  and  England,  sobered  by 
the  loss  of  her  greatest  colony,  was  forced  to  yield.  With 
great  strides  Ireland  advanced  toward  the  goal  of  a  national 
existence. 


202       THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


In  1778  Catholics  regained  some  of  their  lost  rights. 
They  could  once  more  own  land  and  inherit  under  the  com- 
mon law.  Within  a  year  the  shackles  which  England  had 
fastened  upon  Irish  industry  and  commerce  were  struck  off. 
In  1782,  under  the  leadership  of  Grattan,  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment asserted  and  compelled  recognition  of  its  independ- 
ence. Ireland  was  now  an  independent  nation,  bound  to 
England  only  by  the  tie  of  the  Crown.  In  1782,  also,  the 
religion  and  education  of  Catholics  were  freed  from  some 
of  the  burdens  of  the  penal  laws.  Ten  years  later  Catholics 
were  made  eligible  for  admission  to  the  bar  and  for  jury 
service,  and  in  1793  they  won  the  right  to  vote  at  parlia- 
mentary elections. 

The  pioneers  in  the  fight  for  Irish  rights  were  justified 
in  their  declaration  that  self-government  would  bring  pros- 
perity. The  country  fairly  glowed  with  new  life.  Agri- 
culture revived,  industries  were  established,  the  stagnant  chan- 
nels of  trade  and  commerce  became  once  more  animated. 
Religious  and  political  animosities  began  to  fade  before  the 
growing  light  of  economic  prosperity.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
tale  of  Ireland's  misery  had  ended.  But  it  was  simply  the 
closing  of  a  chapter. 


IMPROVEMENTS  BY  TENANT  PURCHASER. 


XXIV 


SOLD  OUT 

With  a  Parliament  of  her  own,  a  lifting  of  the  cloud 
of  religious  persecution  and  a  revival  of  industry,  Ireland 
faced  toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  an  era  of 
peace  and  prosperity.  But  a  fatal  weakness  remained  in  the 
system.  It  was  destined  to  undermine  the  whole  structure 
and  bring  with  the  close  of  the  century  such  a  reverse  to 
Irish  progress  as  would  darken  the  succeeding  hundred 
years  with  records  of  injustice  and  suffering.  While  the 
Parliament  in  Dublin  was  freed  from  English  dictation,  it 
was  not  a  truly  Irish  Parliament.  Its  independence  was  won 
by  Grattan  in  1782,  but  it  was  not  until  1793  that  Catho- 
lics gained  the  right  to  vote.  Meanwhile  the  Parliament 
remained  wholly  Protestant — Presbyterians  as  well  as  Cath- 
olics were  excluded — and  almost  wholly  devoted  to  the 
interests  of  the  landlords  and  their  oligarchy. 

The  Opposition,  led  by  Grattan,  fought  gallantly,  but 
could  not  overcome  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  government 
forces,  founded  upon  representation  from  "rotten  bor- 
oughs" and  the  most  flagrant  corruption.  Electoral  reform 
became  a  burning  issue,  supported  strongly  by  the  Volun- 
teers, Protestants  for  the  most  part,  but  the  demand  was 
treated  with  contempt.  Gradually  the  tyranny  and  venality 
of  the  parliamentary  majority  drew  patriots  of  both  races 
together  in  a  campaign  to  break  the  vicious  system. 

Out  of  the  turmoil  arose  the  inevitable  leader,  Theo- 
bald Wolfe  Tone.  He  was  a  Protestant,  but  a  man  of  just 
and  liberal  ideas,  which  under  the  inspiration  of  the  French 
revolution  became  radical.  Under  him  the  Volunteers 
became  the  United  Irishmen;  Presbyterians,  Catholics  and 
all  men  of  liberal  ideas  joining  with  them.  The  jobbery 
and  corruption  of  the  government  were  hotly  denounced; 

203 


2o4       THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


Belfast,  the  center  of  militant  Protestantism,  began  a  move- 
ment to  found  an  Irish  republic.  But  as  the  maddened 
people  of  France  plunged  into  excesses,  and  the  Irish  radi- 
cals applauded  them,  there  was  a  reaction  among  the  middle- 
class  Protestant  Liberals  and  some  of  the  Catholic  clergy, 
and  as  a  result  the  movement  shrank  until  it  included  only- 
advanced  revolutionaries.  The  government  in  1793  was  able 
to  disband  the  Volunteers.  Wolfe  Tone  and  Lord  Edward 
Fitzgerald  went  to  France  and  raised  an  expedition 
under  Hoche,  who  failed  in  an  attempt  to  land  in  Bantry 
Bay.  Under  a  policy  of  conciliation  the  unrest  subsided 
further,  and  in  1796  the  government  felt  strong  enough  to 
assume  the  offensive.  Once  more  the  disreputable  weapons 
of  religious  persecution  were  seized  upon.  The  govern- 
ment deliberately  fomented  a  religious  war,  and  the  new- 
born spirit  of  nationality  expired  amid  the  rancorous  strife 
of  sectarianism.  Irishmen  forgot  that  they  were  Irishmen, 
and  remembered  only  that  they  were  divided  in  religion. 
Having  relighted  the  torch  of  intolerance,  it  was  not  diffi- 
cult for  the  government  to  start  a  conflagration.  By  a 
policy  of  provocation  it  stung  the  protesting  peasantry  into 
open  revolt.  This  is  not  a  charge  of  partisanship,  but  the 
established  conviction  of  unbiased  historians.  Of  the 
famous  rising  in  1798  Goldwin  Smith  says: 

"Upon  the  homes  of  the  peasantry  were  let  loose  the 
license  and  barbarity  of  an  irregular  soldiery  more  cruel  than 
a  regular  invader.  Flogging,  half-hanging,  pitch-capping, 
picketing  went  on  over  a  large  district,  and  the  most  barbar- 
ous scourgings  without  trial  were  inflicted  in  Dublin,  in  the 
very  seat  of  government  and  justice.  It  appears  not  unlikely 
that  the  peasantry  might  have  been  kept  quiet  by  measures  of 
lenity  and  firmness  and  that  they  were  gratuitously  scourged 
and  tortured  into  open  rebellion." 

The  putting  down  of  the  insurrection  was  little  more 
than  a  matter  of  slaughter,  though  the  rebels  fought  with 
desperation  and  won  some  victories.  Wolfe  Tone  and  Lord 
Fitzgerald  died  in  prison.  Then  followed  a  literal  "reign  of 
terror,"  when  the  hapless  insurrectionists  were  subjected  to 
the  most  merciless  punishment.  Lord  Cornwallis,  appointed 
viceroy  against  his  will,  was  the  most  loyal  of  Englishmen, 


SOLD  OUT  205 

but  his  heart  revolted  against  the  systematic  barbarity  which 
was  everywhere  inflicted  upon  the  Irish  people.  He  wrote: 
•  "The  principal  persons  of  this  country  and  the  members 
of  both  houses  of  Parliament  are  averse  to  all  acts  of  clem- 
ency, and  would  pursue  measures  that  could  only  terminate  in 
the  extermination  of  the  greater  number  of  the  inhabitants 
and  in  the  utter  destruction  of  the  country.  *  *  *  Our 
war  is  reduced  to  a  predatory  system  in  the  mountains  of 
Wicldow  and  the  bogs  of  Kildare.  *  *  *  I  am  very 
much  afraid  that  any  man  with  a  brown  coat  who  is  found 
within  several  miles  of  a  field  of  action  is  butchered  without 
discrimination.  *  *  *  There  is  no  law,  either  in  town 
or  country,  but  martial  law.  *  *  *  Numberless  mur- 
ders are  hourly  committed  by  our  people  without  any  process 
of  examination  whatever." 

Thus  the  despairing  revolt  of  '98  was  crushed.  Brute 
force  had  once  more  put  down  the  effort  of  the  people  to  win 
justice  from  the  government.  But  this  was  not  all.  Eng- 
land had  still  to  revenge  herself  for  the  humiliation  of  grant- 
ing legislative  independence  in  1782.  The  manufactured 
rebellion  and  the  excesses  which  followed  furnished  the 
excuse,  and  it  was  decreed  that  the  Irish  Parliament  should  be 
wiped  out,  merged  with  the  Parliament  at  Westminster. 
True,  the  Irish  Parliament  was  virtually  the  property  of  the 
landlord  minority;  with  some  honorable  exceptions,  the  mem- 
bers were  leaders  or  beneficiaries  of  the  intolerable  system  of 
minority  rule,  yet  at  least  it  had  the  form  of  an  honestly  rep- 
resentative legislature,  and  in  time  might  have  been  regener- 
ated by  public  opinion.    But  it  was  doomed  to  extinction. 

This  chapter  in  the  history  of  English  rule  in  Ireland 
lacks  the  bloody  stains  of  those  which  preceded  it,  but,  if  it  is 
possible,  is  more  disgraceful.  Pitt  might  have  accomplished 
the  Union  by  force,  but  he  chose  instead  to  encompass  it  by 
corruption,  and  make  Ireland  pay  the  costof  her  own  betrayal. 
In  its  first  attempt,  in  the  session  of  January,  1799,  the  gov- 
ernment met  defeat,  the  opposition  being  made  up  of  patriots 
and  of  the  selfish  owners  of  "rotten  boroughs,"  who,  under 
the  plan  of  the  Union,  would  lose  many  of  the  parliamentary 
seats  which  they  "owned."  This  gave  the  government  an 
opportunity  to  split  the  opponents  of  the  measure.    It  set  out 


1 


2o6       THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


deliberately  to  buy  the  "owners"  of  the  eighty-five  boroughs 
which  the  change  would  extinguish.  All  through  the  year 
1799  emissaries  of  the  government  were  busy  upon  their 
unholy  mission.  No  less  than  $6,300,000  was  expended  in 
buying  the  borough  seats.  Nor  was  this  all ;  patents  of  nobil- 
ity ( \)  were  scattered  lavishly  as  bribes.  Among  the  betray- 
ers of  Ireland  the  government  distributed  twenty-two  Irish 
peerages,  six  English  peerages  and  twenty-two  promotions  in 
the  Irish  peerage,  as  rewards  for  the  sale  of  Ireland's  rights. 

The  Irish  Parliament  met  for  the  last  time  on  January 
15,  1800.  The  opponents  of  the  Union — Protestants  and 
Catholics — presented  petitions  against  the  plan  from  twenty- 
six  of  the  thirty-two  counties.  A  fiery  debate  began.  In  the 
midst  of  it  came  a  dramatic  interruption.  Grattan,  weak 
and  ill,  walked  slowly  into  the  House,  supported  by  two 
friends.  Retiring,  sick  at  heart,  from  the  useless  struggle 
against  corruption  in  1797,  the  leader  had  come  back  at  the 
call  of  his  country.  His  presence  and  his  eloquence  inspired 
the  Opposition,  but  nothing  could  overcome  the  effect  of  the 
debauchery  of  the  members.  On  an  amendment  to  the 
address,  indorsing  the  independence  settled  in  1782,  the  vote 
was  96  to  138,  a  government  majority  of  42.  Amonthlater, 
Corry,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  moved  the  resolutions 
adopted  in  the  British  Parliament,  embodying  the  articles  of 
Union.  He  took  occasion  to  make  a  base  attack  on  Grattan. 
Ill  as  he  was,  the  leader  retorted  in  a  fiery  speech,  branding 
Corry  as  a  coward  and  villain.  They  met  at  dawn  in  the 
Phoenix  Park,  and  Grattan  had  the  satisfaction  of  putting  a 
bullet  in  the  slanderer's  arm.  But  the  beginning  of  the  end 
had  come.  The  various  resolutions  leading  to  the  Union 
were  jammed  through,  and  the  final  bill  was  passed  on  May 
26,  by  a  vote  of  153  to  88.  This  is  the  comment  of  Charles 
George  Walpole,  historian: 

uThus  ended  the  Parliament  of  the  English  colony  in  Ire- 
land. It  was  never  in  any  sense  representative  of  the  nation. 
It  was  the  corrupt  embodiment  of  a  dominant  race.  It  sold 
the  birthright  of  the  nation  for  its  own  selfish  ends.  There 
had  not  even  been  a  dissolution  to  test  the  opinion  of  the  con- 
stituencies, the  proposal  to  consult  the  people  upon  a  question 
so  vital  to  their  interests  having  been  sternly  condemned  by 


SOLD  OUT 


207 


Pitt.  The  most  remarkable  and  creditable  thing  about  the 
whole  transaction  was  that  so  many  members  of  the  lower 
house  were  found  whose  integrity  the  government  was  unable 
to  corrupt  and  whose  honor  it  was  powerless  to  purchase." 

By  a  supreme  stroke  of  irony,  the  cost  of  the  country's 
betrayal,  more  than  $7,500,000,  was  charged  to  the  national 
debt  of  Ireland,  and  made  a  permanent  burden  upon  the  Irish 
people.  The  record  of  infamy  was  complete.  The  world 
has  accepted  the  deliberate  judgment  of  Gladstone. 

"There  is  no  blacker  or  fouler  transaction  in  the  history 
of  man,"  he  declared,  "than  the  making  of  the  Union  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  Ireland." 

Thus,  after  seven  hundred  years  of  spoliation  by  violence 
and  penal  enactments,  England  had  completed  the  subjection 
of  Ireland  by  robbing  her  of  her  shadow  of  a  Parliament 
under  a  cloak  of  "constitutional"  methods.  For  better  or 
worse,  the  kingdoms  were  united.  It  was  to  be  no  longer 
possible  to  blame  Irish  wrongs  upon  the  "garrison."  Eng- 
land assumed  the  responsibility  herself.  During  the  nine- 
teenth century  she  was  to  open  a  new  account  with  Ireland. 
The  world,  better  informed  and  more  watchful  than  in  those 
other  days,  has  been  able  to  examine  the  account.  It  is,  truly, 
a  record  far  more  honorable  than  that  of  the  preceding  cen- 
turies. Many  evils  have  been  swept  away,  many  wrongs 
righted.  But  the  fact  remains  that  England  is  still  vastly  in 
Ireland's  debt. 


XXV 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

In  this  rapid  review  of  the  history  of  Ireland,  with  its 
bearing  upon  the  present-day  demand  for  Home  Rule,  we 
come  now  to  a  survey  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  record 
is  totally  different  from  that  of  the  preceding  centuries.  The 
old  order  changes,  and  changes,  in  a  great  degree,  for  the  bet- 
ter. Hoary  abuses  are  done  away  with,  mighty  reforms  are 
inaugurated;  the  new  system  of  government,  under  the  Act  of 
Union,  has  a  trial  of  100  years,  and  in  the  closing  of  the  cen- 
tury an  economic  regeneration  of  the  country  is  under  way. 
Yet,  if  confiscation,  massacre  and  persecution  have  been  aban- 
doned, condemned  by  the  spirit  of  the  age;  if  intolerance  has 
disappeared  before  the  spread  of  enlightenment,  and  if  ua 
government  of  landlordism,  tempered  by  assassination, "  has 
been  swept  away,  there  still  remain  intolerable  evils,  and  the 
people  of  Ireland  still  persist  in  demanding  a  revolution  in 
their  public  affairs. 

The  making  of  the  Union  in  1800,  which  Gladstone 
termed  the  blackest  and  foulest  transaction  in  the  history  of 
man,  simply  perpetuated  the  systematic  misrule  under  which 
Ireland  had  labored.  The  Irish  Parliament  of  17 82-1 800 
was,  in  truth,  not  a  representative  body,  but  it  might  have 
been  the  basis  of  a  really  free  legislature.  With  the  Union, 
control  of  Irish  affairs  was  transferred  to  Westminster,  Ire- 
land to  have  one  hundred  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons and  about  thirty  members  of  the  House  of  Lords,  elected 
by  the  Irish  peers.  The  worst  feature  was  that  Ireland  was 
to  be  ruled  henceforth  by  Englishmen,  who  had  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  country's  needs  and  no  sympathy  with  the  people 
or  their  institutions. 

Throughout  the  century,  moreover,  English  policy 
toward  Ireland  was  marked  by  the  most  fatal  vacillation. 
Egotism  and  indifference  combined  to  reject  all  representa- 

208 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  209 


tions  of  the  people  and  to  exasperate  their  spirit.  When  con- 
cessions were  made,  they  were  made  in  a  manner  to  wound 
rather  than  to  heal.  Events  moved  always  in  the  same 
course.  The  demands  were  met  at  first  by  contempt  and 
mockery;  when  this  became  unbearable  the  Irish  retorted  with 
outbursts  of  lawlessness;  the  government's  invariable  remedy 
was  coercion,  the  infliction  of  a  sort  of  martial  law,  which 
superseded  the  orderly  processes  of  justice  and  placed  the  peo- 
ple at  the  mercy  of  political  magistrates ;  then  violence  as  in- 
variably increased,  until  finally,  through  sheer  terror  of  a  gen- 
eral uprising,  the  government  yielded  and  hastened  to  grant 
what  had  been  demanded.  Again  and  again  during  the  nine- 
teenth century  was  this  discreditable  procedure  followed. 
Englishmen  of  brains  recognized  the  folly  of  the  govern- 
ment's course,  which  led  it  to  grant  concessions,  not  in  a  spirit 
of  justice,  but  because  of  dread  of  revolution,  thus  stirring 
the  hatred  of  the  people  and  putting  a  premium  upon  dis- 
order. 

"Your  oppressions,"  said  Lord  John  Russell  to  his  coun- 
trymen, "have  taught  the  Irish  to  hate,  your  concessions  to 
brave  you.  You  have  exhibited  to  them  how  scanty  was  the 
stream  of  your  bounty,  how  full  the  tribute  of  your  fear." 

The  Land  League  campaign  of  1879  was  a  defiant  revolt 
against  law  and  order,  yet  it  won  a  signal  reform. 

"A  more  lawless,  a  more  violent  organization  has 
scarcely  ever  existed  in  any  country,"  declares  R.  Barry 
O'Brien,  an  Irish  writer.  "If  it  had  not  been  violent  and 
lawless  it  would  not  have  succeeded.  *  *  *  In  188 1 
the  government  surrendered  at  discretion,  and  another  Land 
Act  was  carried  amid  scenes  of  lawlessness,  violence,  anarchy, 
outrage,  panic  and  alarm  scarcely  paralleled  even  in  the 
troubled  history  of  Ireland." 

If  English  testimony  on  this  point  is  wanted,  it  is  at 
hand. 

"Fixity  of  land  tenure,"  said  Lord  Derby,  uhas  been  the 
direct  result  of  two  causes — Irish  outrage  and  parliamentary 
obstruction.  The  Irish  know  it  as  well  as  we.  Not  all  the 
influence  and  eloquence  of  Mr.  Gladstone  would  have  pre- 
vailed on  the  English  House  of  Commons  to  do  what  has 
been  done  in  the  matter  of  Irish  tenant  right  if  the  answer  to 
14 


2io       THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


all  objections  had  not  been  ready:  'How  else  are  we  to  govern 
Ireland?'" 

"I  must  make  one  admission,"  said  Mr.  Gladstone  him- 
self, "and  that  is  that  without  the  Land  League  the  Act  of 
1 88 1  would  not  at  this  moment  be  on  the  statute  book." 

Furthermore,  the  reforms  granted  by  the  British  Parlia- 
ment were  never  whole-hearted  measures.  As  they  were 
granted  under  compulsion,  so  they  were  restricted  as  far  as 
the  government  dared.  If  ever  a  country  needed  drastic 
remedies,  it  was  Ireland.  Yet  the  authorities  temporized, 
vacillated  and  made  blundering  half-concessions  that  never 
fully  remedied  the  evils  at  which  they  were  aimed. 

The  century  opened  ominously.  The  people  watched  in 
sullen  anger  the  extinction  of  their  liberties  by  the  Act  of 
Union.  In  1803  Robert  Emmet,  the  bravest  and  most  pic- 
turesque of  Ireland's  heroes,  led  a  despairing  revolt  which 
failed,  and  died  on  the  scaffold  with  such  supreme  courage 
that  his  name  has  ever  been  dearest  to  his  race.  But  the 
story  of  this  rising  belongs  really  to  the  eighteenth  century; 
"it  was  the  last  flicker  of  the  fire  of  1798,"  says  O'Brien. 
Let  us  examine  briefly  the  condition  of  the  country  after  the 
Union.  The  population  was  about  5,000,000;  four-fifths  of 
these  were  Catholics,  600,000  Episcopalians,  400,000  of 
other  churches,  chiefly  Presbyterians.  All  of  the  political 
power  was  in  the  hands  of  the  600,000  Episcopalians;  they 
gave  no  consideration  to  the  Presbyterians,  and  Catholics,  in 
spite  of  the  abolition  of  many  penal  enactments  against  them, 
held  no  positions  of  trust  in  public  affairs.  Four-fifths  of  the 
people  of  Ireland  "had  no  more  to  do  with  the  government 
of  the  country,"  it  has  been  said,  "than  a  community  of 
mice  might  have  to  do  with  a  government  of  cats."  The 
government's  attitude  upon  religion  was  the  same.  The 
Anglican  Church  was  established  and  endowed — a  state 
church,  supported  by  public  tithes.  The  Presbyterian  and 
Catholic  Churches  were  tolerated,  but  were  supported  by  the 
voluntary  contributions  of  members,  who  had  also  to  pay 
tithes  to  the  Episcopalian  Church.  Education  was  similarly 
burdened  with  injustice,  as  has  been  related  in  another 
chapter. 

In  all  these  evils  may  be  traced  the  effects  of  the  funda- 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


21  I 


mental  weakness  of  the  Union.  It  did  not  unite  the  races — 
it  was  not  designed  to  do  so — it  simply  united  the  govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain  with  a  political  party  in  Ireland.  The 
minority  remained  in  supreme  control;  but,  having  been 
relieved  of  responsibility,  lost  whatever  sense  of  patriotism  it 
might  have  had.  Nor  did  the  home  government  keep  the 
pledges  upon  which  it  had  forced  the  union.  Complete 
emancipation  of  the  Catholics  was  solemnly  promised,  but 
twenty-nine  years  elapsed  before  the  pledge  was  redeemed, 
and  then  only  under  the  pressure  of  a  national  agitation.  Back 
of  this  was  the  great  figure  of  Daniel  O'Connell,  whose  name 
is  indelibly  written  on  the  history  of  emancipation.  In  1823 
he  reorganized  the  old  Catholic  Association,  which  had  lost 
power  because  of  division  among  its  members.  It  spread 
throughout  the  whole  country,  enlisting  the  support  of  peas- 
ants, gentry  and  priests,  and  for  five  years  maintained  a  cease- 
less agitation  for  equal  rights.  Finally,  in  1828,  O'Connell 
had  himself  elected  member  of  Parliament  from  Clare, 
although  as  a  Catholic  he  was  ineligible  to  take  his  seat.  In 
the  following  year,  finding  public  opinion  dangerous,  the  gov- 
ernment yielded,  but  on  terms  which  seriously  restricted  the 
franchise,  cutting  the  Irish  electorate  from  260,000  votes  to 
26,000. 

Encouraged  by  this  success,  O'Connell  began  his  famous 
agitation  for  the  repeal  of  the  Union.  In  his  fight  for  Catho- 
lic emancipation  he  had  had  the  support  of  Protestant  Lib- 
erals, but  they  deserted  him  on  the  repeal  issue,  and  hence- 
forth Protestant  Ireland  was  to  be  Unionist.  For  five  years, 
from  1835  to  1840,  O'Connell  suspended  agitation  and  tried 
to  gain  his  end  by  alliance  with  the  British  ministry;  failing 
to  achieve  any  substantial  reforms,  he  broke  the  compact  and 
resumed  the  struggle  for  repeal.  By  1843  tnc  country  was 
aflame  upon  the  issue.  The  movement  culminated  in  a  mon- 
ster meeting  at  the  Hill  of  Tara,  when  250,000  persons 
assembled.  The  gathering  was  proscribed  by  the  authorities, 
and  troops  were  hurried  to  the  scene.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
agitation  were  about  to  flare  into  rebellion.  But  O'Connell, 
ever  an  advocate  of  "constitutional  methods, "  gave  the  order 
to  disperse.  From  that  day  he  lost  much  of  his  power  over 
the  people,  and  was  openly  repudiated  by  the  followers  of  the 


2i2       THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


"Young  Ireland"  movement.  He  died  in  Genoa  in  1847, 
under  a  cloud  of  disapprobation  from  radical  members  of  his 
race,  but  secure  in  his  fame  as  the  "Great  Liberator." 

The  "Young  Ireland"  movement  was  destined  also  to 
end  in  failure.  It  started  well,  under  the  leadership  of  such 
brilliant  men  as  Thomas  Davis,  John  Blake  Dillon,  Charles 
Gavan  Duffy,  John  Mitchel  and  Smith  O'Brien.  Some  of 
them  were  Protestants,  and  their  agitation,  unlike  that  or 
O'Connell,  was  for  Ireland  as  a  whole,  not  merely  for 
Catholic  Ireland.  But  differences  of  opinion  as  to  methods, 
intensified  by  the  horrors  of  the  famine  years,  led  to  a  rup- 
ture. Davis,  who  was  dead,  and  O'Brien,  who  was  living, 
were  for  "moral  force";  Mitchel — a  Protestant,  like  Davis 
— and  his  associates  were  for  "physical  force."  Mitchel's 
policy  of  violence  roused  the  country,  enlisting  finally  even 
Smith  O'Brien  and  his  friends.  But  the  dissensions  gave 
the  government  its  opportunity,  especially  as  many  of  the 
clergy  strongly  opposed  the  threatened  rising.  Mitchel  was 
suddenly  arrested  and  transported,  and  in  a  single  conflict  the 
rebellion  of  1848  was  crushed.  The  reaction  from  the 
policy  of  O'Connell  had  carried  the  country  far,  but  it  was 
impossible  to  transmute  the  aroused  patriotism  into  success- 
ful military  strategy. 

Meanwhile  a  disaster  infinitely  greater  smote  the  people 
— the  appalling  famine  of  1 847-1 849,  with  its  ghastly  record 
of  starvation,  eviction  and  emigration.  The  comparative  tran- 
quillity of  the  country  under  the  Irish  Parliament  and  the  rise 
in  the  price  of  farm  products  during  the  Napoleonic  wars 
gave  an  impetus  to  Ireland  which  not  only  brought  agricul- 
tural prosperity,  but  caused  a  rapid  increase  in  the  popula- 
tion. The  population,  which  in  1788  was  4,040,000,  had 
grown  by  1805  to  5,395,456  and  by  1821  to  6,801,827.  In 
1  841  there  were  8,175,124  inhabitants.  Taking  advantage 
of  the  demand  for  land,  the  landlords  encouraged  the  sub- 
division of  holdings,  so  as  to  increase  the  rents  and  the  num- 
ber of  votes  they  could  control.  Then  came  peace  and  a 
sudden  fall  in  the  price  of  agricultural  products,  and  the  land- 
lords decided  that  they  could  make  more  from  grazing  than 
from  the  rentals  of  tilled  ground.  A  campaign  of  "clear- 
ances" began,  and  continued  for  years.    Tenants  were  driven 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  213 


from  their  farms  and  the  houses  leveled,  Parliament  indus- 
triously passing  laws  to  make  evictions  easy  and  cheap.  As 
there  were  no  industries  to  which  the  people  could  turn,  they 
simply  had  to  have  land;  hence  competition  drove  rents  to 
exorbitant  prices.  Only  by  the  most  supreme  effort  could  the 
people  keep  themselves  from  starvation.  The  time  was  coming 
when  they  could  not  do  even  that.  A  single  bad  harvest 
meant  hunger  for  hundreds  of  thousands.  Three  harvests  in 
succession  failed — in  1845,  1846  and  1847.  ^n  the  last  two 
years  the  potato  crop  perished  entirely.  Until  1849  famine 
reigned  throughout  the  land.  By  tens  and  by  hundreds  of 
thousands  the  people  perished  of  hunger  and  fever.  The 
roadsides  were  dotted  with  corpses.  The  strong  fled  from 
the  country  in  a  never-ending  stream;  the  weak  dropped  in 
their  tracks  and  died.  The  number  killed  by  hunger  was 
estimated  at  729,033.  Between  1846  and  1851  1,240,737 
emigrants  left  the  country.  Between  1849  and  1852 
263,000  families  were  evicted.  There  is  no  need  to  prolong 
the  ghastly  tale,  which  is  too  familiar  to  every  person 
acquainted  with  Irish  history.  At  fearful  cost  it  brought 
home  to  the  world  a  realization  that  a  nation  was  perishing. 
The  famine  was  unnatural,  needless.  It  was  not  due  to  want 
of  food,  for  during  the  years  1846  and  1847  Ireland  exported 
far  more  than  enough  to  feed  her  people.  The  trouble  was 
that  the  produce  of  the  land  was  used  up  in  paying  rent  to 
the  landlords. 

The  famine  was  another  turning  point  in  the  history  of 
Ireland.  It  started  at  full  tide  that  wave  of  emigration 
which  has  never  ceased,  which  has  robbed  the  country  of  its 
most  vigorous  inhabitants  and  has  made  America  a  factor  in 
the  demand  for  Home  Rule. 

The  history  of  Ireland  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  shows  a  constant  brightening.  There  were 
periods  when  the  darkness  of  oppression  and  violent  reprisal 
settled  over  the  land,  but  not  for  long.  By  the  force  of 
awakened  public  opinion,  by  outbursts  of  opposition  that  were 
simply  unarmed  rebellions  and  by  campaigns  of  obstruction 
and  agitation  in  the  British  Parliament  the  interest  of  English 
statesmen  of  ability  was  at  last  awakened  and  the  govern- 


2i4       THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 

ment  compelled  to  inaugurate  sweeping  changes.  These  fifty 
years  were,  on  the  whole,  a  period  of  great  reforms.  The 
greatest,  wisest  and  most  important  of  all  was  the  gradual 
extinction  of  landlordism,  now  under  way.  In  addition, 
there  were  the  disestablishment  of  the  state  church  of  the 
minority ;  several  acts  for  the  betterment  of  the  condition  of 
farmers,  agricultural  laborers  and  artisans;  the  granting  of 
self-government  in  purely  local  affairs,  and  the  founding  of  a 
national  university. 

The  great  famine  of  1 847-1 849  left  the  country  almost 
desolate  and  the  people  utterly  worn  out.  The  horrors  of 
starvation  and  wholesale  eviction  had  swelled  the  tide  of 
emigration,  draining  the  nation  of  its  very  lifeblood.  For 
fifteen  years  Ireland  remained  steeped  in  misery.  Gavan 
Duffy  in  1 85 1  sought  to  revive  the  national  spirit  through 
his  Irish  Tenant  League,  but  the  movement  was  betrayed  by 
two  of  its  members.  Again,  in  1858,  a  dangerous  conspir- 
acy was  fomented  in  County  Cork  by  James  Stephens,  one  of 
the  leaders  of  the  rising  of  1 848.  It  was  quickly  suppressed, 
yet  it  served  to  uncover  the  perilous  condition  of  the  public 
mind.  A  far  more  serious  attack  was  being  prepared. 
While  Stephens,  with  O'Donovan  Rossa  and  others,  formed 
the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood,  Irishmen  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  United  States  organized  Fenianism  for  an 
armed  attack  upon  Great  Britain.  The  movement  was 
denounced  by  powerful  members  of  the  Catholic  clergy  and 
by  the  advocates  of  "constitutional  methods,"  yet  it  made 
headway.  An  incident  in  1861  showed  the  temper  of  the 
people.  Cardinal  Cullen  refused  to  permit  the  body  of  one 
of  the  revolutionaries  to  be  carried  into  a  church,  and  it  was 
followed  to  the  grave  by  50,000  men.  Seizure  of  some  of 
the  Fenian  leaders  in  1 865  didnot  quell  the  trouble.  Stephens 
escaped.  Scattered  risings  were  suppressed,  and  a  ship  from 
America,  with  arms  and  men  who  had  fought  in  the  Civil 
War,  was  captured,  but  for  three  years  the  government  was 
terrorized.  There  was  a  raid  into  Canada,  Clerkenwell 
prison  in  London  was  dynamited,  Chester  Castle  was 
attacked  and  an  attempt  made  to  rescue  some  prisoners  in 
Manchester,  resulting  in  the  death  of  a  policeman  and  the 
hanging  of  three  Fenians.    Futile  as  these  outbreaks  were  in 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  215 

themselves,  they  had  the  effects  noted  in  connection  with  simi- 
lar risings  in  preceding  years;  they  aroused  the  attention  of 
England,  and  were  followed  by  immediate  reforms.  They 
led  to  the  disestablishment  of  the  Anglican  Church  in  Ireland 
and  the  passage  of  the  first  great  Land  Act  of  1870.  That 
violence  hastened  these  concessions  we  have  the  testimony  of 
English  statesmen. 

"It  has  only  been  since  the  termination  of  the  American 
war  and  the  appearance  of  Fenianism,"  said  Gladstone,  "that 
the  mind  of  this  country  has  been  greatly  turned  to  the  con- 
sideration of  Irish  affairs."  Again,  in  1868,  when  the  great 
leader  was  asked  why  he  had  not  dealt  with  disestablishment 
in  1866,  he  answered: 

"For  a  perfectly  plain  and  simple  reason.  In  the  first 
place,  circumstances  were  not  ripe  then  as  they  are  now. 
Circumstances,  I  repeat,  were  not  ripe,  in  so  far  as  we  did 
not  know  then  so  much  as  we  know  now  with  respect  to  the 
intensity  of  Fenianism." 

"The  attention  of  this  country  and  the  conscience  of 
England,"  said  Lord  Dufferin,  "were  much  stimulated,  if  not 
altogether  awakened,  by  the  fact  of  Fenianism." 

"Few  persons,"  wrote  Lord  Derby  in  1881,  "will  now 
regret  the  disendowment  of  the  Irish  Church  or  the  passing  of 
the  Land  Act  of  1870;  but  it  is  regrettable  that,  for  the  third 
time  in  less  than  a  century,  agitation,  accompanied  with  vio- 
lence, should  have  been  shown  to  be  the  most  effective  instru- 
ment for  redressing  whatever  Irishmen  may  be  pleased  to 
consider  their  wrongs." 

It  is  worth  while  to  note  in  passing  what  this  church 
question  was.  The  Anglican  Church,  with  about  600,000 
adherents  out  of  the  total  population  of  nearly  8,000,000  in 
1 840,  was  the  state  Church.  It  was  endowed  with  lands  and 
with  money,  and  supported,  besides,  by  tithes  levied  against  all 
the  people.  Of  course,  the  greatest  part  of  the  tithes  were 
paid  by  Catholics,  and  the  few  hundred  thousand  Presbyter- 
ians also  had  to  contribute.  In  many  parishes  the  rector  of 
the  endowed  church  actually  had  to  borrow  two  or  three  wor- 
shipers from  a  neighboring  parish  in  order  to  hold  an  occa- 
sional service,  and  so  comply  with  the  law  which  gave  him  a 
large  salary.    The  people  in  1830,  and  for  several  years  fol- 


216       THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


lowing,  made  war  upon  the  grotesque  system.  There  were 
many  scenes  of  riot  and  violence,  and  finally,  in  1838,  the 
government  yielded  and  passed  a  tithe  commutation  act. 
This  placed  the  burden  of  paying  the  tithes  upon  the  land- 
lords. Of  course,  the  remedy  was  useless,  for  the  landlords 
simply  added  the  tax  to  the  rents,  and  the  people  paid  as 
before.  It  was  not  until  1869  that  the  state  Church  was  dis- 
established and  disendowed.  It  was  "bought  out"  by  the 
government,  and  while  it  was  left  with  great  wealth,  it  was 
stripped  of  political  power  and  its  support  by  the  adherents  of 
other  churches  stopped. 

The  Land  Act  of  1870,  which  first  established  the  tenant's 
proprietary  interest  in  improvements  made  by  his  own  labor, 
has  already  been  discussed  at  length.  For  generations 
the  land  question  had  been  the  subject  of  almost  ceaseless 
agitation;  as  early  as  1845  tne  English  Devon  commission 
had  condemned  the  evil  system  and  pointed  out  the  remedy; 
but,  as  always,  Ireland  had  to-  wait  for  many  weary  years  for 
her  rights.  Though  the  statute  marked  a  great  advance,  it 
was,  on  the  whole,  a  failure,  for  it  did  not  give  the  tenants 
fixity  of  tenure.  For  nine  years  a  ceaseless  agitation  by  con- 
stitutional methods  was  maintained,  looking  to  further  legis- 
lation for  the  solving  of  the  land  problem.  All  was  in  vain. 
England  felt  quite  satisfied  that  she  had  done  all  that  was 
necessary.  Bill  after  bill  was  introduced,  only  to  meet  igno- 
minious defeat.  Meanwhile  parallel  movements — one  for 
land  reform,  the  other  for  Home  Rule — were  under  way. 
In  1874  the  Nationalists,  under  Isaac  Butt,  for  the  first  time 
won  a  general  election  in  Ireland,  and  four  years  later  lined 
up  under  the  powerful  leadership  of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell. 
In  1879  Michael  Davitt,  perhaps  the  best  beloved  of  the 
Irish  leaders,  induced  Parnell  to  yoke  the  movements  for  land 
reform  and  Home  Rule  and  to  accept  tacitly  the  aid  of  the 
revolutionary  faction.  The  House  of  Lords  in  the  following 
year  rejected  a  bill  favorable  to  the  tenants.  The  country, 
already  threatened  with  famine,  was  in  the  throes  of  an  evic- 
tion campaign,  and  the  desperate  people,  under  guidance  of 
the  famous  Land  League,  replied  with  boycotting,  resistance 
to  eviction  and  many  forms  of  violence.  It  was  in  the  midst  of 
this  anarchy  that  the  government  passed  the  Land  Act  of 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  217 


1 8  8 1 ,  and  with  it  a  severe  coercion  act.  Neither  was  immedi- 
ately effective;  both  the  evictions  and  the  agrarian  outrages 
continued.  The  jails  were  filled  with  leaders  of  the  move- 
ment and  their  followers.  Parnell  himself  was  incarcerated. 
Finally,  in  1882,  after  two  years  of  strife,  Gladstone  entered 
into  negotiations  with  Parnell,  still  in  prison,  and  coercion 
was  abandoned.  Unhappily,  this  great  victory  was  all  but  an- 
nulled by  the  cowardly  murder  of  Lord  Frederick  Cavendish 
and  Under  Secretary  Burke,  in  the  Phoenix  Park,  Dublin. 
Lord  Cavendish,  just  appointed  Chief  Secretary,  was  regard- 
ed as  the  bearer  of  a  message  of  conciliation  to  Ireland.  His 
assassination  dealt  a  blow  to  "agitation  by  constitutional 
methods"  from  which  it  was  slow  to  revive. 

Gladstone,  nevertheless,  continued  his  magnificent  efforts 
to  achieve  justice  for  Ireland.  In  1886  he  introduced  a  bill 
for  land  purchase — which  to-day  is  under  way — and  for 
Home  Rule.  It  was  summarily  rejected  by  the  House  of 
Commons.  Living  always  close  to  the  danger  line,  the  peo- 
ple were  at  the  time  suffering  want,  owing  to  a  fall  in  the 
prices  of  agricultural  commodities.  Payment  of  the  rents 
demanded  became  an  utter  impossibility.  Parliament  having 
thrown  out  a  relief  bill  offered  by  Parnell,  the  leaders  inaugu- 
rated the  famous  uplan  of  campaign."  Under  this  scheme 
tenants  formally  requested  an  abatement  in  the  rents  com- 
mensurate with  the  prevailing  depression;  upon  the  land- 
lord's refusal,  the  tenants  agreed  to  pay  into  a  campaign  fund 
the  reduced  rent  offered,  the  money  to  be  held  for  acceptance 
by  the  landlord,  or,  failing  that,  to  be  used  as  a  war  fund  to 
resist  eviction.  The  government  made  its  inevitable  reply — 
coercion — and  for  three  years  a  fierce  agrarian  and  political 
struggle  raged  in  the  land.  Parnell  meanwhile  was  made 
the  victim  of  a  villainous  attack  in  England,  the  London 
Times  accusing  him  of  complicity  in  outrages,  supporting  the 
charges  with  documentary  "evidence."  Inquiry  forced  a  con- 
fession from  Richard  Pigott,  forger  of  the  letters,  and  Par- 
nell became  a  popular  hero.  Entering  into  a  closer  alliance 
with  Gladstone,  the  leader  was  engaged  in  helping  to  formu- 
late a  Home  Rule  program,  when  the  O'Shea  divorce  case 
suddenly  involved  him  in  political  ruin,  split  the  Irish  people 
into  warring  camps  and  started  dissensions  which  raged  for 


2i 8     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


nearly  ten  years.  Gladstone  in  1893  carried  a  Home  Rule 
bill  through  the  House  of  Commons,  but  it  was  killed  in  the 
House  of  Lords.  Meanwhile  additional  land  acts,  each 
advancing  the  emancipation  of  the  tenants,  had  been  passed. 
The  terms  of  them  all  have  been  reviewed  elsewhere,  with 
the  Act  of  1903. 

This,  then,  is  the  story  of  the  nineteenth  century  in 
Ireland.  Lacking  the  sanguinary  horrors  of  the  centuries 
preceding,  it  is  still  a  story  of  gloom  and  failure.  Those 
who  forced  through  the  Union  of  1800  by  the  most  despic- 
able corruption  affected  to  believe  that  it  would  solve  the 
problem.  As  has  been  shown,  it  simply  intensified  the  evils 
of  the  system,  for  it  robbed  the  dominant  minority  of  re- 
sponsibility and  saddled  upon  the  country  the  burden  of  gov- 
ernment by  alien  statesmen,  who  were  ignorant  of  the  coun- 
try's needs  and  indifferent  to  its  demands. 

During  the  entire  period  England's  policy  was  marked 
by  vacillation  and  political  cowardice.  No  intelligent  Eng- 
lishman now  denies  the  justice  of  emancipation,  of  church  dis- 
establishment or  of  the  land  reforms  that  have  been  accom- 
plished, yet  each  and  every  one  of  these  was  denounced  and 
obstructed  as  a  scheme  of  anarchy.  Concessions  were 
granted  ungraciously  and  always  hedged  about  with  restric- 
tions that  made  amending  legislation  necessary.  Further- 
more, in  nearly  every  case  there  was  the  discreditable  specta- 
cle of  a  government  obstinately  refusing  demands  presented 
by  orderly  procedure  and  then  hastening  to  grant  them  under 
the  pressure  of  violent  outbreaks.  Thus  it  is  that  the  twen- 
tieth century  finds  Ireland  still  unreconciled,  still  at  enmity 
with  England,  still  maintaining  her  demand  for  a  complete 
overturning  of  the  system  of  government  which  she  condemns 
and  repudiates. 


XXVI 


M  I  S  G  O  V  E  R  N  M  E  N  T 

Even  the  very  brief  and  imperfect  review  which  has  been 
given  of  Ireland's  history  will  serve  to  explain  in  large  meas- 
ure the  present  problems  of  the  country  and  the  persistent 
demand  of  the  people  for  a  radical  change  in  the  form  of 
government.  It  remains  now  to  describe  that  government 
as  it  is  and  to  examine  the  claims  put  forth  by  the  advocates 
of  reform. 

From  every  standpoint,  the  development  of  Ireland 
during  the  seven  hundred  years  since  the  first  invasion  has 
been  abnormal.  Geographically  shut  off  from  contact  with 
Europe,  the  country  has  ever  been  at  the  mercy  of  England. 
It  was  within  the  power  of  Great  Britain  to  mold  Ireland's 
,  destiny,  to  make  her  an  integral  part  of  the  empire.  But  this 
she  has  failed  to  do.  She  never,  until  the  present  genera- 
tion, sought  to  deal  with  the  Irish  as  equals;  she  always  re- 
garded and  treated  them  as  an  inferior  race,  and  her  whole 
purpose  was  to  extinguish  absolutely  the  institutions  and  even 
the  race  of  the  owners  of  the  country  and  substitute  the  insti- 
tutions and  the  race  of  the  so-called  Anglo-Saxon.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  Ireland  should  have  submitted  grace- 
fully; that,  having  failed  to  drive  out  the  invaders,  she  should 
have  accepted  the  inevitable  and  shared  in  the  prosperity  of 
the  "conqueror."  The  fact  is  that  Ireland  never  had  a 
chance  for  honorable  terms.  From  century  to  century  rebel- 
lion and  civil  war  were  forced  upon  her.  The  conquest  was 
never  complete,  yet  England  arrogated  to  herself  the  rights 
of  a  conqueror,  and  whenever  those  rights  were  challenged 
she  provoked  revolt  by  plantations,  persecutions  and  mas- 
sacres. 

During  every  period  of  tranquillity  the  vigor  of  the 
Irish  race  was  proved  by  the  rapidity  with  which  she  assimi- 
lated the  invaders.    The  Norman,  Elizabethan  and  Crom- 

219 


22o     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


wellian  planters,  many  of  them,  became  umore  Irish  than  the 
Irish."  This  is  a  historical  fact.  But  the  country  was  never 
permitted  to  work  out  its  own  destiny.  Fresh  invasions,  new 
plantations,  new  forms  of  oppression  by  landlords  and  the 
i 'garrison"  invariably  operated  to  split  the  races  and  provoke 
risings  which  could  be  put  down  by  massacre  and  whole- 
sale deportation  and  confiscation.  The  policy  was  not  to 
organize  and  develop  the  country  for  the  benefit  of  all  its 
inhabitants,  but  to  exploit  it  for  the  benefit  of  a  few.  Even 
when  the  violent  methods  of  invasion  and  penal  enactments 
had  been  abandoned,  England  continued  the  same  policy  by 
different  means.  It  would  seem  as  if  she  had  been  animated 
by  the  hope  that  eventually,  through  the  effects  of  emigration 
and  sheer  national  weariness,  the  Irish  people  would  be  so 
weakened  that  the  problem  would  disappear.  The  record  of 
the  seven  hundred  years  has  been  summed  up  in  a  few  terse 
and  terrible  words  by  a  member  of  Parliament,  J.  M.  Rob- 
ertson. As  he  is  a  Scotch  Liberal,  he  will  not  be  suspected 
of  undue  leanings  toward  Catholic  Nationalism.  Reviewing 
the  history,  he  says : 

"Seven  centuries  of  rapine  and  violence.  Carelessness 
alternating  with  ferocity.  Not  a  gleam  of  humanity  nor  of 
political  wisdom.  Not  even  the  wisdom  of  the  peasant  whc 
takes  care  of  his  beast  lest  it  perish." 

As  we  have  seen,  the  nineteenth  century  witnessed  a 
change  in  methods,  the  sweeping  away  of  many  ancient 
abuses,  the  inauguration  of  great  reforms.  But  still  the 
basic  evil  remains.  The  government  of  Ireland  in  these 
opening  days  of  the  twentieth  century  is  an  anachronism,  a 
perversion  of  liberty,  a  government  of  taxation  without  real 
representation,  a  cumbersome,  costly  and  inefficient  system  of 
minority  rule.  Such  statements  as  this  are  denounced  by 
English  Unionists  as  the  falsest  and  most  dangerous  political 
heresy.  Ireland,  they  say,  is  as  free  as  England.  She  has 
103  out  of  the  670  members  of  the  imperial  Parliament, 
which  governs  both  countries  equitably;  she  has  trial  by  jury, 
the  habeas  corpus,  and  now  even  a  system  of  popular  and 
elective  government  in  local  affairs  (since  1898J.  What 
more  can  she  demand? 

To  answer  this  question,  and  to  determine  which  of  the 


MISGOVERNMENT 


221 


two  views  of  the  Irish  government  is  correct,  we  must  exam- 
ine the  system  as  it  was  established  and  as  it  is.  j  The  Act  of 
Union  of  1800,  as  has  already  been  made  clear,  did  not  effect 
a  real  union  between  the  two  governments.  It  effected, 
rather,  a  union  between  the  government  of  England  and  the 
minority  in  Ireland.  The  Irish  Parliament — which  with  all 
its  faults  had  been  at  least  a  free  agent — was  destroyed,  and 
the  imperial  Parliament,  with  the  Irish  representation  noted 
above,  made  supreme.  But  this  did  not  alter  the  fact  that 
Ireland  remained  under  the  domination  of  the  "garrison"  as 
much  as  in  the  days  of  Cromwell.  The  minority  was  all  but 
absolute.  Their  wishes  were  paramount  wTith  Parliament. 
It  took  twenty-nine  years  to  win  religious  equality,  solemnly 
promised  in  1800.  It  was  not  until  1869  that  the  burden  of 
the  Established  Church  was  lifted.  It  was  not  until  1870 
that  the  first  attempt  was  made  to  reform  the  intolerably 
vicious  land  system.  To  illustrate  what  the  trend  of  gov- 
ernment was  during  the  nineteenth  century,  a  record  has  been 
made  of  the  principal  acts  of  Parliament  affecting  Ireland 
between  1829  and  1879.  The  following  table  shows  the 
number  of  bills  for  the  relief  of  tenants  unsuccessfully  intro- 
duced in  the  years  named : 


1829   1  j  1853. 

1830   1 

1831   1 

1835   1 

1836   2 


1855   1 

1856   1 

1858   1 

1871   1 


1845   2  !  1872   1 

1846   2  1  1873   2 

1847   1  j  1874   4 

1848   2  1  1875   2 

1849   1 

1850   2 

1851   1 

1852   1 


1876   3 

1877   2 

1878   5 

1879   5 


In  a  period  of  fifty  years,  then,  we  find  forty-eight  bills 
for  the  benefit  of  the  suffering  tenants  introduced  in  the 
imperial  Parliament.  Not  a  single  one  of  them  was  passed. 
During  the  same  period  there  were  forty-eight  coercion  acts, 
each  establishing  for  the  time  being  a  form  of  martial  law 
which  placed  the  people  at  the  mercy  of  magistrates  appointed 
by  Dublin  Castle.    During  the  nineteenth  century  there  were 


222     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


eighty-seven  of  these  acts.  Three  words  fairly  describe  the 
course  of  the  government  of  Ireland  during  that  century. 
Corruption  branded  the  so-called  Union;  coercion  was  the 
remedy  applied  for  fifty  years  to  economic  evils ;  conciliation 
was  the  method  of  the  last  thirty  years.  Corruption  and 
coercion  have  been  done  away  with  to  a  large  extent,  dis- 
credited by  their  failure  and  condemned  by  public  opinion. 
Conciliation  has  accomplished  much  in  the  way  of  reform, 
but  it  leaves  the  basic  problem  of  misgovernment  unsolved. 

"Who  (or  what)  rules  Ireland?"  asks  R.  Barry  O'Brien, 
in  an  exhaustive  work  recently  issued.  "It  may  be  the  English 
cabinet ;  it  may  be  Dublin  Castle ;  it  may  be  the  'Irish'  boards ; 
it  may  be  all  three  combined;  but  it  is  not  the  Irish  people." 

This  is  from  an  Irish  writer,  but  the  statement  is  strictly 
and  impartially  true.  Whatever  the  government  of  Ireland 
may  be,  it  is  not  self-government.  The  people  are  ruled  by 
forces  over  which  they  exercise  no  control,  which  are  really 
irresponsible.  We  can  take  the  testimony  of  Joseph  Cham- 
berlain.   In  1885  he  said: 

"An  Irishman  cannot  move  a  step,  he  cannot  lift  a  finger 
in  any  parochial,  municipal  or  educational  work,  without 
being  confronted  with,  interfered  with,  controlled  by  an  Eng- 
lish official,  appointed  by  a  foreign  government  and  without 
a  shade  or  shadow  of  representative  authority." 

We  can  take  the  testimony  of  James  Bryce,  once  Chief 
Secretary  for  Ireland,  now  British  Minister  to  the  United 
States,  author  of  "The  American  Commonwealth." 

"The  English  government  in  Ireland,"  he  wrote  in  1883, 
"is  still  practically  a  foreign  government.  It  seems  to  them 
(the  Irish,)  an  external  power,  set  in  motion  by  forces  they 
do  not  control,  conducted  on  principles  which  may  or  may 
not  be  good,  but  which  are  not  their  principles." 

These  utterances  are  as  true  to-day  as  when  they  were 
written,  except  that  since  1898  there  has  been  a  form  of 
Home  Rule  in  strictly  local  affairs.  The  root  of  the  whole 
matter  is  that  Ireland  is  governed  by  men  who  are  foreign  in 
race,  religion  and  political  sympathies.  In  an  ordinary  discus- 
sion of  this  kind  a  reference  to  religion  would  have  no  place, 
but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  very  system  inflicted  upon 
Ireland  makes  such  reference  necessary.    During  the  last 


MISGOVERNMENT 


223 


hundred  years  from  three-fourths  to  four-fifths  of  the  popu- 
lation has  been  Catholic.  During  that  period  there  have 
been  thirty-two  Lords  Lieutenant — several  having  held  office 
more  than  once — not  one  of  whom  was  a  Catholic;  fifty  Chief 
Secretaries,  not  one  a  Catholic;  twenty  Under  Secretaries, 
three  being  Catholics.  Four  of  the  Lords  Lieutenant,  seven  of 
the  Chief  Secretaries  and  four  of  the  Under  Secretaries  have 
been  at  least  partially  sympathetic  toward  the  great  mass  of 
the  Irish  people;  the  others  have  been  openly  contemptuous  of 
and  antagonistic  to  the  race  they  were  appointed  to  govern. 

In  the  face  of  such  a  record  as  this,  such  a  deliberate 
and  long-continued  policy  of  governing  a  people  without 
regard  to  their  wishes,  it  is  idle  to  protest  that  the  religious 
element  should  be  excluded  from  the  discussion.  The  reli- 
gious element  was  interjected  by  England,  and  for  centuries 
has. been  the  very  foundation  of  English  rule;  it  will  be  elimi- 
nated when  the  religious  test  for  governmental  positions  is 
abandoned  in  practice  as  well  as  in  theory  and  when  the 
majority  of  the  people  of  Ireland  have  fair  representation. 
This  does  not  mean  that  the  appointment  of  Catholics  to 
government  offices  would  solve  the  problem;  in  fact,  the 
patriotism  of  such  appointees  is  often  under  suspicion. 
What  the  Irish  want  is  Irish  appointments  (Catholic  and 
Protestant,)  by  an  Irish  national  government. 

An  inevitable  result  of  the  system — the  invasions  and 
plantations  from  the  twelfth  to  the  eighteenth  century  and 
the  Dublin  Castle  government  of  to-day — has  been  to  divide 
the  people  into  two  hostile  camps.  It  should  be  observed 
that  the  separation  is  not  one  of  race,  for  the  chemistry  of 
time  has  fused  English,  Norman,  Danish  and  Celtic  strains 
inextricably;  nor  is  it  to  be  defined  strictly  by  religious  test, 
since  there  are  powerful  Catholics  with  the  minority,  and 
many  of  the  most  famous  leaders  of  the  majority  have  been 
Protestants.  The  division  is  rather  material  than  racial  or 
religious.  It  is  largely  a  matter  of  possession.  Those  who 
have  for  centuries  held  the  land,  the  wealth  and  the  political 
power  of  the  country  are  determined  to  keep  all  they  can  of 
what  they  consider  their  rights;  those  who  have  been  sup- 
pressed, excluded,  discriminated  against,  are  fighting  to  estab- 
lish a  fairer,  more  democratic  system,  which  will  give  them 


224     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 

the  share  in  the  government  to  which  their  numbers  entitle 
them. 

Geographically,  the  division  is  the  northeastern  part  of 
the  province  of  Ulster  against  almost  all  the  rest  of  Ireland. 
Numerically,  it  is  one-fourth  of  the  people  against  three- 
fourths.  Politically,  it  is  Unionism  against  Nationalism — > 
the  policy  of  perpetuating  the  present  system  against  the 
policy  of  establishing  a  free  Irish  Parliament. 

Those  who  uphold  the  existing  form  of  government, 
including  Dublin  Castle,  with  all  its  hoary  evils,  are  the  mod- 
ern representatives  of  the  "garrison"  of  old.  Among  them 
will  be  found  most  of  the  landlords,  the  exceptions  being  such 
broad-minded  men  as  the  Earl  of  Dunraven.  With  these 
reactionary  descendants  of  the  "planters"  upon  whom  various 
sovereigns  conferred  lands  confiscated  from  the  Irish  stand  a 
horde  of  followers — lawyers,  agents,  bailiffs  and  other  em- 
ployes; also  a  large  number  of  the  prosperous  middle  class, 
manufacturers,  business  men,  attorneys,  and  so  on,  who,  like 
their  forefathers,  have  found  profit  and  security  in  clinging 
to  the  skirts  of  the  ruling  oligarchy.  A  second  and  important 
section  of  the  Unionist  group  is  made  up  of  the  Ulster  Scotch, 
descendants  of  the  settlers  planted  there  by  James  I  and  Will- 
iam III  on  lands  seized  from  the  original  owners.  Alto- 
gether, there  are  about  1,250,000  of  these  Unionists.  They 
are  prone  to  insist  that  they  are  not  Irishmen,  but  British 
loyalists;  they  are,  in  fact,  more  loyalist  than  the  King,  more 
English  than  the  folk  across  the  channel.  By  "loyalty"  they 
do  not  mean  devotion  to  the  country  where  most  of  them 
were  born,  where  they  reside  and  make  their  living,  but  loy- 
alty to  the  Union,  to  the  system  under  which  they  impose  their 
will  upon  three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  country. 

Incidentally,  it  may  be  said  that  Ulster  presents  a  prob- 
lem distinct  from  all  the  rest  of  Ireland.  It  is  infinitely  more 
prosperous.  As  a  center  of  manufacturing  it  rivals  the  fac- 
tory districts  of  England.  The  people — we  are  speaking  of 
the  northeastern  part — are  better  fed,  better  housed  and  in 
every  way  more  thriving  than  those  of  most  of  the  rest  of  the 
country.  These  facts  constitute  one  of  the  most  popular 
arguments  of  Unionism.  All  this  prosperity,  it  is  declared, 
is  due  to  the  religious  training  of  the  people.    The  great 


MISGOVERNMENT 


225 


manufacturing  interests  are  said  to  be  the  products  of  Protes- 
tant intelligence,  while  the  poverty  and  the  lack  of  manufac- 
turing elsewhere  are  the  inevitable  results  of  Catholic  ignor- 
ance and  shiftlessness. 

There  may  be  something  in  the  argument;  at  least  it 
may  be  conceded  that  there  is  more  thrift,  more  mechanical 
genius,  more  artisanship,  in  the  Scotch  character  than  in  the 
Irish.  But  it  should  be  remembered  that  for  hundreds  of 
years  the  former  were  sedulously  favored  by  legislation,  while 
the  latter  were  deliberately  excluded  by  statutes  from  the  free 
exercise  of  trade  and  industry.  Ulster,  as  part  of  the 
Ascendency,  benefited  by  every  form  of  legislative  encourage- 
ment which  the  "garrison"  could  devise;  for  a  hundred  years 
virtually  every  means  of  business  and  professional  livelihood 
was  closed  to  men  not  of  the  Ulster  religion.  Ulster  thus 
obtained  a  lead  which  the  rest  of  the  country  has  never  been 
able  to  overcome.  Industries  cannot  be  established  offhand; 
they  require  a  long  time  for  development  of  natural  resources 
and  the  training  of  skilled  labor.  During  the  period  of  dis- 
criminating protection  to  one  class  of  the  people  they  built  up 
manufacturing  interests  which  cannot  be  dislodged.  They 
may  well  be  proud  of  their  success,  but  not  to  the  extent  of 
condemning  as  impotent  their  fellow-countrymen  who  suf- 
fered so  long  under  the  handicap  of  exclusion.  The  same  dis- 
crimination ruled  in  agricultural  affairs.  From  the  begin- 
ning Ulster  has  enjoyed  the  inestimable  advantage  of  tenant 
right  under  the  "Ulster  Custom. "  By  this  enactment  the  ten- 
ant in  that  section  has  always  held  a  proprietary  interest  in 
improvements  made  upon  his  rented  land  by  his  own  labor; 
it  was  not  until  1870  that  the  same  right  was  conferred  on 
tenants  throughout  the  rest  of  Ireland. 

Yet  Ulster,  now  so  passionately  "Loyalist,"  or  anti-Irish, 
has  twice  been  in  arms.  In  1782  Ulster  was  the  backbone  of 
the  demand  which  won  from  England  a  free  Parliament,  and 
in  1798  Wolf  Tone  enlisted  many  Ulstermen  as  rebels.  The 
Union  of  1800,  perpetuating,  as  it  did,  the  ascendency  of  Ul- 
ster in  Irish  affairs,  made  the  province  "loyal,"  and  so  it  has 
stayed  ever  since.  It  is  necessary  to  remark,  however,  that 
the  term  "Ulster,"  used  politically,  does  not  mean  the  whole 
province.    In  the  first  place,  of  the  nine  counties,  Donegal, 

15 


226     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


Cavan  and  Monaghan  are  almost  exclusively  Catholic,  while 
in  Tyrone,  Armagh  and  Fermanagh  Protestants  and  Catho- 
lics are  about  equally  divided;  it  is  only  in  Down,  Antrim  and 
Derry,  and  especially  in  the  cities  of  Londonderry  and  Bel- 
fast, that  the  Protestants  are  in  a  great  majority.  The  Na- 
tionalists now  hold  nearly  half  of  Ulster's  thirty-four  seats  in 
Parliament,  whereas  thirty  years  ago  they  had  not  a  single 
one.  They  even  have  a  member  from  Belfast,  the  strong- 
hold of  Orange  opposition. 

It  is  worth  while,  too,  to  note  that  among  the  Ulster 
Presbyterians  two  forces  have  always  been  at  work,  a  racial 
tendency  toward  independence  and  democracy,  and  a  strong 
religious  feeling.  The  former  made  Ulster  a  foe  of  the 
landlord-ruled  Irish  Parliament  and  of  the  exactions  of  the 
state  (Anglican)  church  in  the  form  of  tithes  collected  from 
Presbyterians;  the  latter  grew  into  hatred  of  Catholicism. 
The  landlords  always  made  use  of  the  conflict  in  principle; 
they  overcame  the  tendency  toward  democracy  by  fomenting 
religious  strife.  Whenever  it  seemed  likely  that  men  of  the 
two  faiths  might  unite,  even  for  so  innocuous  a  purpose  as 
obtaining  land  reform,  the  fires  of  religious  passion  were  re- 
lighted and  the  two  elements  driven  apart.  Outbursts  of 
fanaticism  continue  to  this  day,  but  they  are  growing  less 
frequent  and  less  bitter.  There  is  hope  that  some  day  the 
spirit  of  democracy  in  Ulster  will  outgrow  the  spirit  of  in- 
tolerance and  that  the  province  will  realize  that  it  is  better 
to  be  a  part  of  a  united  Ireland  than  a  tool  of  Toryism  and 
reaction. 

Meanwhile  the  "garrison" — the  landlords,  the  social 
aristocracy  and  their  supporters  in  northeastern  Ulster — re- 
mains supreme.  But  it  is  doomed.  The  processes  of  evolu- 
tion cannot  be  stayed,  and  evolution  is  making  the  "garrison" 
the  vermiform  appendix  of  the  Irish  political  body.  The 
"mercenaries  of  England  and  parasites  of  Ireland"  have  lost 
ground  rapidly  during  the  last  forty  years.  The  first  blow 
was  the  disestablishment  of  the  state  church  in  1869.  In  the 
very  next  year  came  the  establishment  of  tenant  right,  the  ex- 
tension of  the  "Ulster  custom"  to  all  of  Ireland.  In  188 1 
the  first  move  toward  Land  Purchase  was  made,  and  now  the 
peasants  are  rapidly  becoming  landowners,  and  hence  power- 


MISGOVERNMENT 


227 


ful  factors  in  the  country's  development.  In  1884  the  fran- 
chise was  extended;  the  voters  now  number  fourteen  per  cent, 
of  the  population,  whereas  in  1832  they  numbered  only  1.19 
per  cent.  And  in  1898  the  right  of  self-government  (that 
is,  Home  Rule)  in  local  affairs  was  won,  establishing  Na- 
tionalist authority  in  twenty-seven  of  the  thirty-two  counties. 
Yet  while  the  "garrison"  is  gradually  losing  its  grip,  it  still  re- 
tains immense  authority.  It  no  longer  dictates  the  laws,  but 
it  administers  them.  It  is  supreme  in  Dublin  Castle,  it  dom- 
inates the  judiciary,  it  controls  the  police  and  the  local  courtsc 
It  has  only  nineteen  of  the  one  hundred  and  three  members 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  but  it  has  full  sway  in  the  ad- 
ministration in  Ireland. 

Slowly,  but  surely,  it  is  passing  away,  and  passing  un- 
honored.  Its  exit  from  the  stage  is  not  graceful,  not  even 
dignified.  Throughout  its  long  ascendency  the  landlord 
"garrison"  fought  every  reform  idea  advanced  for  the  better 
government  of  the  country:  religious  emancipation,  church 
disestablishment,  tenant  right,  land  purchase,  educational 
equality,  extension  of  the  franchise,  local  government.  In 
fighting  the  inevitable  transfer  of  the  land  to  the  people  it 
haggles  to  wring  the  last  possible  shilling  of  purchase  money. 
In  opposing  Home  Rule  it  clings  desperately  to  the  "right" 
of  minority  rule.  It  offers  nothing  constructive,  for  Union- 
ism is  but  the  negation  of  Nationalism. 

Against  this  reactionary  element  are  arrayed  the  great 
mass  of  the  Irish  people.  They  are  now  completely  united. 
Sinn  Fein,  an  organization  of  some  strength,  opposes  parlia- 
mentary action,  despite  the  remarkable  accomplishments  of 
the  last  generation,  and  the  advocates  (in  theory)  of  "physi- 
cal force"  are  also  contemptuous.  Nevertheless,  it  is  appar- 
ent that  the  national  spirit  of  Ireland  is  represented  in  the 
work  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary  Party  and  its  supporting 
organization,  the  United  Irish  League,  under  the  able  leader- 
ship of  John  E.  Redmond.  For  twenty-five  years  the  party 
has  been  in  Parliament,  but  not  of  it;  sometimes  obstructing, 
sometimes  compromising,  sometimes  failing,  but  almost  al- 
ways going  forward.  Since  1900  it  has  been  united,  and  is 
the  most  compact,  most  ably  directed  force  in  the  House  of 
Commons  to-day. 


XXVII 


DUBLIN  CASTLE 

In  pursuing  a  study  of  the  government  of  Ireland, 
against  which  the  people  maintain  an  unceasing  protest,  we 
find  it  characterized  in  rather  strong  terms  of  disapproba- 
tion. Denunciation  from  Nationalist  critics  may  be  taken 
for  granted ;  more  weight,  perhaps,  may  be  given  to  the 
utterances  of  men  less  directly  interested. 

UI  say  the  time  has  come,"  declared  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain several  years  ago,  "to  reform  altogether  the  absurd 
and  irritating  anachronism  which  is  known  as  Dublin  Cas- 
tle, to  sweep  away  altogether  the  alien  boards  of  foreign 
officials  and  to  substitute  for  them  a  genuine  Irish  adminis- 
tration for  purely  Irish  business." 

"The  government  of  Ireland,"  declared  Lord  Rose- 
bery,  "is  the  most  inefficient  government  in  the  whole  world." 

"Dublin  Castle  is  not  merely  a  foreign  power,"  writes 
L.  Paul-Dubois,  a  noted  French  historian,  "it  is  at  once  hos- 
tile, anti-democratic,  mercenary  and  irresponsible." 

"Irish  administration,"  said  Lord  Dunraven,  "is  the 
most  costly  and  least  efficient  in  the  world.  We  are  gov- 
erned as  no  other  people  in  the  world  are  governed.  Castle 
government  is  not  democratic,  it  is  not  despotic,  it  is  not  an 
oligarchy.  No  one  has  any  control  over  these  Irish  boards. 
No  one  can  say  that  such  a  form  of  government  is  suitable  to 
the  needs  of  the  country  or  the  age  in  which  we  live." 

"A  chaotic  anachronism,"  was  the  terse  description  of 
Dublin  Castle  by  Sir  West  Ridgeway,  who  was  Under  Sec- 
retary— that  is,  virtual  head  of  the  Castle  government — 
from  1887  to  1892.  Finally,  I  shall  quote  just  one  Irish 
Nationalist,  to  show  that  Nationalism  is  not  a  matter  of  re- 
ligion. Alfred  Webb,  who  died  in  July,  1908,  was  bred  a 
Quaker  and  throughout  all  his  long  life  maintained  the  sim- 
plicity, dignity  and  moral  courage  of  the  society  to  which 

228 


DUBLIN  CASTLE 


229 


he  belonged.  He  was  treasurer  of  the  United  Irish  League, 
and  for  several  years  was  the  unopposed  representative  in 
Parliament  of  an  overwhelmingly  Catholic  constituency. 
Here  are  some  of  his  utterances: 

"Where  else  but  in  Ireland  do  men  plume  themselves 
on  esteeming  their  fellow-countrymen  unfit  for  the  manage- 
ment of  their  own  affairs?" 

"Time  has  belied  every  evil  prognostication  regarding 
the  character  and  capacity  of  the  Irish  people. " 

"The  difference  between  Ireland  and  other  countries  in- 
vaded by  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  that  in  Ireland  the  natives  have 
withstood  the  efforts  to  annihilate  or  assimilate  them,  or 
make  them  in  thought  part  of  the  conquering  state;  their 
own  traditions,  and  not  those  of  the  conquerors,  still  animate 
and  inspire  them." 

"Until  Great  Britain  restores  to  us  that  of  which  she 
has  robbed  us — self-government — her  desire  that  we  should 
forget  the  past  is  an  insult  to  our  intelligence." 

Now,  what  is  this  system  of  government  which  calls 
forth  such  unsparing  denunciation?  How  does  it  differ  from 
the  government  of  England  and  Scotland,  which  causes  no 
such  wholesale  opposition?  The  basis  of  it  is  the  Act  of 
Union  of  1800.  That  Act,  forced  upon  Ireland  against  its 
will,  effected  a  union  only  of  the  Parliaments  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland — or,  rather,  it  submerged  the  legislature 
of  the  latter  in  the  Imperial  legislature.  It  did  not  effect 
a  union  as  regards  the  civil  law,  the  judiciary  or  the  admin- 
istration. The  administration  in  Ireland  to-day  remains 
just  about  as  English  and  as  anti-Irish  as  it  was  in  1800 
and  before.  It  centers  in  Dublin  Castle,  and  the  name  of 
that  institution  is  the  popular  and  accurate  designation  of 
the  power  that  controls*  the  destinies  of  Ireland. 

Dublin  Castle,  physically  speaking,  is  a  collection  of 
buildings  in  the  heart  of  Dublin.  It  is  the  palace  of  the  Vice- 
roy, or  Lord  Lieutenant;  it  is  also  the  seat  of  administration, 
a  military  depot  and  headquarters  of  the  constabulary  and 
secret  police.  Administratively  speaking,  Dublin  Castle  in- 
cludes many  other  buildings  throughout  Dublin,  housing  va- 
rious departments,  as  well  as  some  hundreds  of  barracks,  de- 
pots and  other  appurtenances  throughout  the  country,  with 


230     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


all  the  officials  and  machinery  of  the  government.  At  the 
head  of  Dublin  Castle  is  the  Viceroy,  invariably  a  Protestant 
peer,  either  English  or  Scotch  or  Irish.  He  is  appointed  by 
the  Crown,  and  in  turn  appoints  a  Privy  Council  of  about 
sixty  members,  consisting  of  royal  personages,  retired  chief 
secretaries,  high  judges  and  other  persons  of  distinction. 
This  is  an  advisory  body,  but  also  exercises  certain  judicial 
functions.  The  Lord  Lieutenant,  however,  is  largely  a 
figurehead,  his  chief  office  being  to  preside  over  official  society, 
sign  proclamations  and  generally  act  as  representative  of  the 
sovereign. 

The  real  head  of  the  government  is  the  Chief  Secretary 
for  Ireland,  a  member  of  the  imperial  Parliament  and 
responsible  to  it,  and  holding  a  seat  in  the  cabinet.  A  new 
Chief  Secretary  is  appointed — nominally  by  the  Crown,  but 
really  by  the  party  in  power — with  each  party  change  in 
England,  or  oftener  than  that.  This  means  that  the  respon- 
sible head  of  the  Irish  government  is  changed  about  once  in 
every  two  years,  so  that  no  incumbent  ever  has  time,  if  he  has 
the  inclination,  to  formulate  and  put  in  operation  a  definite, 
helpful  policy. 

In  these  two  offices  may  be  observed  the  most  important 
differences  between  the  government  of  Ireland  and  that  of 
Great  Britain.  In  the  larger  country  the  real  ruler  is  the 
Premier,  who  is  invariably  the  most  popular  and  influential 
man  in  the  party  which  has  carried  the  preceding  election. 
The  Premier  is  the  choice  of  the  people,  the  representative  of 
their  will;  not  even  the  sovereign  can  prevent  his  taking  and 
exercising  the  vast  authority  of  the  office.  In  the  same  way 
every  member  of  the  cabinet,  each  of  whom  is  head  of  an 
important  department,  is  virtually  appointed  by  the  people 
and  is  actually  responsible  to  them.  In  direct  contrast  with 
this  condition,  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  is  named  by  the 
Crown  without  the  slightest  reference  to  the  wishes  of  the 
Irish  people.  The  Chief  Secretary,  too,  is  thrust  upon  them, 
and  while  sometimes  he  is  sympathetic,  he  can  never  be  any- 
thing but  a  foreigner.  He  distinctly  is  not  the  choice  of  the 
people,  and  the  machinery  of  Dublin  Castle  is  such  that  he 
never  is  free  to  carry  out  policies  which  he  may  advocate. 
The  Under  Secretary  is  in  some  respects  more  powerful  than 


DUBLIN  CASTLE 


the  Chief  who  appoints  him.  He  resides  in  Dublin  and  is  the 
actual  director  of  the  Castle  machine,  since  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  year  the  Chief  Secretary  is  attending  Parliament 
in  London.  The  Lender  Secretary  likewise  is  appointed  with- 
out any  regard  to  the  desires  of  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland. 

Under  these  three  officials — one  a  figurehead,  one  a 
member  of  the  English  cabinet,  one  a  resident  secretary,  all 
appointed  by  the  British  government — the  affairs  of  Ireland 
are  administered  by  a  great  nest  of  bureaus,  departments  and 
boards.  There  are  sixty-seven  of  them — sixty-sever,  costly, 
complicated,  irresponsible  bodies  conducting  the  govern- 
mental business  of  the  poorest  nation  in  Europe,  and  not  a 
single  one  of  them  within  the  remotest  reach  of  public 
opinion !  As  an  illustration  of  what  the  Irish  government  is, 
I  give  a  list  of  the  ''sixty-seven  varieties" : 

Lord  Lieutenant's  Household.  Chief  Secretary's  Office,  State 
Paper  Department.  Office  of  Arms.  Treasury  Remembrancer.  Na- 
tional School  Teachers'  Superannuation  Office.  Conservators  of 
Fisheries.  Registrar  of  Petty  Sessions  Clerks.  General  Prisons 
Board,  Office  of  Reformatory  and  Industrial  Schools.  Inspectors  of 
Lunatic  Asylums.  Public  Loan  Fund  Board.  Royal  Irish  Con- 
stabulary Office.  Dublin  Metropolitan  Police  Board  Office. 

Local  Government  Board,  Board  of  Trade.  Customs.  Inland 
Revenue  (Stamp  and  Tax.  Excise  and  Estate  Duty  Offices).  Sta- 
tionery Office,  Intermediate  Education  Board.  General  Valuation 
and  Boundary  Survey  Office,  Board  of  Public  Works.  Civil  Service 
Commission,  Land  Commission,  Land  Estates  Commissioners.  Land 
Office  of  the  Public  Trustee.  National  Gallery.  Department  of 
Agriculture  and  Technical  Instruction.  Fisheries  Office.  Veterinary 
Department.  College  of  Science,  School  of  Art.  Science  and  Art 
Museum,  National  Library. 

Board  of  National  Education,  General  Register  Office.  Con- 
gested Districts  Board,  Registry  of  Deeds,  Post  office  Department, 
Geological  Survey,  Commissioners  of  Charitable  Donations  and 
Bequests,  Commissioners  of  Education  in  Ireland  (not  the  same 
as  the  Board  of  National  Education),  Ordnance  Survey.  In- 
spectors of  Factories.  Auditor's  Office  of  War  Department,  Royal 
Naval  Reserve  Office.  Woods  and  Forests  Office.  Public  Record 
Office,  Joint  Stock  Companies'  Registry  Office.  Registrar  of 
Friendly  Societies,  Office  of  the  Royal  University.  Commissioners 
of  Lighthouses,  Lunacy  Department,  Crown  and  Hanaper  Office, 
Local  Registration  of  Title  Office,  Record  and  Writ  Office,  Con- 
solidated Taxing  Office,  Consolidated  Accounting  Office.  Cbsneery 
Registrar's  Office,  Principal  Registry  Office  of  Probate.  King's 
Bench  Division  Office,  Lord  Chancellor's  Court.  Master  of  the 
Rolls  Court,  Chancery  Division  Court,  Land  Judges'  Court,  Bank- 
ruptcy Court  and  Admiralty  Court. 


232     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


One  fact  is  so  vital  to  an  understanding  of  the  case  that 
reiteration  cannot  be  avoided.  Not  one  of  these  bureaus, 
offices  and  departments  is  responsible  to  the  people  of  Ire- 
land. Some  of  them  are  responsible  directly  to  the  British 
government;  some  are  merely  local  branches  of  English 
departments ;  some  are  responsible  in  theory  to  the  Chief  Sec- 
retary; but  none  of  them  has  anything  to  fear  from  or  any 
respect  for  the  public  opinion  of  the  country  whose  affairs 
they  direct.  There  have  been  in  recent  years  some  able  and 
conscientious. Chief  Secretaries,  such  as  John  Morley,  Gerald 
Balfour,  James  Bryce  and  the  present  incumbent,  Augustine 
Birrell ;  but  it  is  quite  obvious  that  they  have  been  helpless  in 
the  grasp  of  the  Dublin  Castle  machine.  With  its  intricate 
tangle  of  red  tape,  its  horde  of  more  than  100,000  perma- 
nent officials  and  employes,  its  independent  and  irresponsible 
Chief  Secretaries,  Dublin  Castle  rules  Ireland  according  to 
its  own  sweet  will,  and  Dublin  Castle  represents  the  minority 
and  despises  the  majority  as  did  the  cliques  of  land-grabbing 
adventurers  in  the  days  of  the  "plantations." 

In  Great  Britain  each  department  is  represented  in  the 
House  of  Commons  by  a  Minister,  placed  there  by  the  people 
of  England  or  Scotland,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  instantly 
witkin  reach — through  "parliamentary  questions" — of  the 
public  opinion  of  the  two  countries.  All  the  departments  of 
Ireland  are  represented  by  one  man,  the  Chief  Secretary,  and 
he  is  directly  responsible,  as  president,  for  no  fewer  than 
twenty  of  them.  Were  each. of  his  days  a  week  long  he  could 
never  master  the  details  of  these  departments;  he  must  accept 
the  reports  of  the  permanent  officials,  who  are  quite  out  of 
reach  of  the  people.  Hence  it  is  that  Ireland  is  still  ruled 
actually  by  the  creatures  of  the  "garrison,"  men  who,  when 
they  are  not  absolutely  hostile  to  public  opinion,  are  perfectly 
indifferent  to  it. 

Next  to  the  irresponsible  despotism  of  Dublin  Castle, 
the  greatest  evil  of  the  system  is  its  extravagance.  Ireland, 
the  poorest  country  in  western  Europe,  pays  more  per  capita 
to  be  misgoverned  than  any  other  country  pays  for  good 
administration.  Since  the  Union  of  1800  the  taxation  con- 
tributed by  Ireland  has  steadily  increased,  while  the  popula- 
tion and  prosperity  during  the  last  fifty  years  have  as  steadily 


DUBLIN  CASTLE 


233 


decreased.  In  1800  the  taxation  was  $15,000,000;  in  1815, 
$32,500,000;  now  Ireland  contributes  about  $55,000,000  to 
the  Imperial  treasury.  Of  this  latter  sum,  nearly  $40,000,- 
000  is  spent  upon  the  government  of  Ireland.  For  nearly 
fifty  years  the  inequalities  of  the  system  of  taxation  have 
been  agitated.  In  1864  the  chairman  of  a  committee  of 
inquiry  declared  that  ''Ireland  is  the  most  heavily  taxed  coun- 
try in  Europe  and  England  the  most  lightly  taxed."  A  com- 
mission in  1895,  composed  of  Ulster  Unionists*,  as  well  as 
Nationalists,  made  a  similar  report.  It  found  that  Ireland 
was  overtaxed  $12,500,000  a  year;  since  then  taxes  have 
increased  heavily.  It  is  a  matter  of  official  record  that  Ire- 
Ian  contributes  one-eleventh  as  much  as  Great  Britain,  while 
her  taxable  capacity  is  much  less  than  one-twentieth.  More- 
over, while  in  Great  Britain  one-half  the  taxes  collected  are 
direct,  in  Ireland  more  than  seventy  per  cent,  are  indirect — 
that  is,  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  tax  burden  falls  upon  food 
and  other  necessaries  of  the  poor.  The  per  capita  taxation 
was  $5  in  1850;  $12.50  in  1900. 

Now  as  to  the  cost  of  the  government  which  is  so  unsat- 
isfactory to  Ireland.  The  country  must  support  the  Viceroy, 
or  Lord  Lieutenant,  whose  salary  is  twice  that  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  his  expensive  household.  It 
must  support  the  sixty-seven  irresponsible  departments  we 
have  named,  with  their  100,000  or  more  officials  and  em- 
ployes, including  11,000  police.  Perhaps  comparisons  will 
best  illustrate  the  extravagance  of  the  Irish  administration. 
Scotland  should  afford  a  fair  comparison,  as  her  population  is 
about  the  same — 4,472,000  in  Scotland,  against  4,458,000  in 
Ireland.  Comparison  will  also  be  made  with  England  and 
Wales. 

Scotland's  government  costs  less  than  $30,000,000  a 
year;  Ireland's,  nearly  $40,000,000,  though  the  population  is 
less. 

Scotland  supports  963  officials,  whose  incomes  exceed 
$800  a  year;  Ireland  supports  4539  officials  of  the  same 
class — and  none  of  them  chosen  by  the  people. 

Scotland  pays  $2,500,000  annually  for  police;  Ireland 
pays  $7,500,000. 

Scotland's  prison  board,  caring  for  2900  convicts,  costs 


234     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


$435>°00  annually;  Ireland's  prison  board,  with  2500  con- 
victs, costs  $535,000  annually. 

Scotland's  courts  in  1907  cost  $1,000,000;  Ireland's  in 
the  same  year  cost  $1,840,000. 

England  pays  for  government  $5.75  per  capita;  Scot- 
land, $5.80;  Ireland,  $8.50. 

Of  England's  national  income,  one-fortieth  is  expended 
on  her  home  government;  of  Ireland's,  more  than  one-tenth. 

It  is  perfectly  clear,  then,  that  Ireland's  government, 
unsatisfactory  as  it  is  to  the  people,  and  lacking  almost 
wholly  the  virtue  of  representing  public  opinion,  is  more  than 
fifty  per  cent,  costlier  than  the  government  of  England  or 
Scotland.  And  the  pressure  of  the  burden  is  infinitely 
greater  because  Ireland  is  the  poorest  of  the  three  countries. 
During  the  last  century,  while  the  cost  of  government  has  so 
rapidly  increased,  the  population  of  England  has  been  multi- 
plied by  four  and  that  of  Scotland  by  three,  while  Ireland's 
has  decreased  one-fourth.  During  the  last  sixty  years  the 
population  of  England  has  doubled,  while  that  of  Ireland 
has  fallen  fifty  per  cent.  In  England  the  average  weekly 
wage  of  agricultural  laborers  is  $4.65 ;  in  Scotland,  $4.80;  in 
Ireland,  $2.72.  Comparing  Ireland  and  England,  the  popu- 
lation of  Ireland  is  one-seventh,  yet  her  railway  passengers 
number  only  one-thirty-seventh  and  her  freight  traffic  only 
one-seventeenth.  Poorest  of  the  three  countries,  Ireland 
bears  relatively  the  heaviest  burden. 

But  in  examining  the  cost  of  government,  which  is  one 
of  the  most  serious  counts  in  the  indictment  against  the  pres- 
ent system,  the  most  glaring  inequalities  are  undoubtedly  to 
be  found  in  the  police  records.  In  the  policing  of  Ireland  we 
find  the  policy  of  Dublin  Castle  in  full  flower.  It  should  be 
understood,  first,  that  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary  is  quite 
different  from  the  police  force  as  it  is  known  in  England, 
Wales,  Scotland  and  America.  It  is  infinitely  more  than  an 
organization  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  the  pre- 
vention and  detection  of  crime;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  military  force, 
an  army  of  occupation,  a  reinforcement  of  the  regular  army. 
It  consists  of  more  than  11,000  men,  armed  with  carbines 
and  bayonets,  swords  and  revolvers,  and  occupies  some  hun- 


DUBLIN  CASTLE 


dreds  of  strongly  fortified  barracks  throughout  the  country. 
In  addition,  there  are  supplementary  forces  in  Dublin,  Bel- 
fast and  Derry.  But  the  chief  thing  to  observ  e  is  that  this 
army  of  occupation,  miscalled  a  police  force,  is  controlled  by 
Dublin  Castle:  that  is  to  say,  by  the  "foreign"  government. 
The  people  of  Ireland  have  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with 
the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary-,  except  to  pay  them.  While 
the  expenditure  is  paid  out  of  the  imperial  treasury,  it  is 
charged,  of  course,  to  Ireland,  and  becomes  a  burden  upon 
the  Irish  taxpayer.  The  Dublin  Castle  commanders  of  the 
force  are  English  army  officers.  They  direct  it  and  control 
it  without  the  slightest  reference  to.  the  popular  will  and 
without  any  responsibility  to  the  public.  Now-  let  us  com- 
pare the  size  and  the  cost  of  this  irresponsible  organization 
with  the  size  and  cost  of  the  police  in  other  parts  of  the 
empire.    Here  are  the  figures  for  1906: 

Population.  Police. 

England  and  Wales   34,547.000  46,027 

Ireland    4,387,000  11,126 

Another  way  to  look  at  it  is  this:  In. Scotland  there  is 
one  policeman  to. every  857  of  population;  in  England,  one 
to  750;  in  Ireland,  one  to  394.  Now  as  to  the  cost.  It  has 
already  been  shown  that  Scotland  pays  for  her  police 
$2,500,000  a  year;  Ireland,  $7,500,000.  Leaving  out  Lon- 
don and  Dublin,  the  two  capitals,  England's  police  cost  fifty- 
six  cents  per  capita  of  population;  Ireland's,  5 1.64.  There 
must  be  some  very  good  reason  for  these  extraordinary  dis- 
crepancies^— for  maintaining  in  Ireland  much  more  than 
twice  as  many  police,  in  proportion  to  population,  as  are 
maintained  in  England,  Wales  or  Scotland.  The  obvious 
inference  would  be  that  crime  is  rampant  in  Ireland  and  that 
only  an  exceptional  force  of  armed  men  could  keep  the  vio- 
lent tendencies  of  the  people  within  bounds. 

I  have  no  personal  experiences  to  bear  out  such  a  charge. 
I  have  traveled  rather  extensively  in  Ireland,  have  studied 
the  daily  life  of  the  country  at  fairly  close  range  and  have 
kept  in  touch  with  the  newspapers,  friendly  and  unfriendly 
to  the  majority  of  the  people.  Yet  I  have  observed  no 
extraordinary  inclination  to  crime,  nor  do  I  recall  any  publi- 
cations which  indicate  such  a  tendency.  But  my  testimony, 
after  all,  as  that  of  a  mere  visitor,  is  not  of  much  value. 


236     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


The  uncolored  and  incontrovertible  facts  will  be  found  in 
government  reports.  And  these  show  that  in  Ireland  crime 
is  relatively  a  great  deal  less  frequent  and  less  serious  than 
in  Great  Britain. 

"Nothing  could  be  falser,"  writes  L.  Paul-Dubois, 
"than  the  prejudice  which  paints  Ireland  as  a  pandemonium 
of  brigands  and  assassins.  There  is  no  professional  criminal 
class  in  Ireland.  There  may  have  been  a  considerable  volume 
of  crime  during  the  agrarian  war,  but  I  do  not  know  a  coun- 
try in  Europe  in  which  the  figures  are  lower  in  normal  times. 
In  1 90 1,  for  instance,  an  average  year,  there  were  in  Eng- 
land thirty-three  convictions  for  every  100,000  inhabitants, 
in  Scotland  forty-one  and  in  Ireland  only  twenty-seven. 
Every  year  sees  the  closing  of  some  unused  prison,  and  at  the 
Assizes,  as  often  as  not,  the  judge  receives  from  the  sheriff 
the  traditional  pair  of  white  gloves,  which  indicate  that  his 
white  hands  will  not  have  to  be  raised  in  passing  sentence  on 
any  one." 

But  this  is  not  official.  Let  us  consult  the  government's 
"Judicial  Statistics  (Criminal)"  for  England  and  Wales  and 
for  Ireland.  "As  to  whether  crime  is  increasing  or  decreas- 
ing," says  the  report  for  1905,  "the  most  trustworthy  answer 
is  to  be  found  in  the  return  as  to  indictable  offenses.  They 
include  all  the  most  serious  forms  of  crime.  *  *  * 
Non-indictable  offenses  include  very  many  which  partake  of 
a  civil  character."  Taking  the  year  1906,  when  the  popula- 
tion of  England  and  Wales  was  34,547,000  and  of  Ireland 
4,387,000,  we  find  indictable  offenses  returned  as  follows: 


In  the  official  report  for  the  year  1907  we  find  this 
record : 


These  figures  show  not  only  that  crime  in  Ireland  is 
from  twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent,  less  than  across  the  chan- 
nel, but  that  increase  from  year  to  year  is  less  rapid.  On  this 
point  the  1907  official  reports  say: 


England  and  Wales 
Ireland   


Number.   Per  100,000. 

91,665  265 
9,465  215 


Crimea.   Per  100,000. 


England  and  Wales 
Ireland   


98,822  283 
9,418  220 


DUBLIN  CASTLE 


237 


(England  and  Wales.)  "Crimes  proper  (indictable 
offenses)  have  shown  a  marked  increase,  the  number  of 
indictable  offenses  reported  to  the  police  being  greater  than 
in  any  year  since  1882." 

(Ireland.)  "In  the  year  1907  the  indictable  offenses 
for  the  whole  of  Ireland,  which  had  fallen  from  9728  in 
1905  to  9465  in  1906,  declined  to  9418  in  the  period  under 
notice." 

Part  of  the  reduction,  it  should  be  observed,  may  be 
traced  to  the  decreasing  population;  none  the  less,  the  com- 
parison is  wholly  favorable  to  Ireland.  There  is  interest  also 
in  examining  the  character  of  the  crimes  in  the  two  countries. 
Following  are  the  official  figures  for  1907: 

England-Wales.  Ireland. 


Murder    132  23 

Manslaughter    141  41 

Felonious  and  malicious  wounding   1,372  167 

Burglary,  robbery  and  housebreaking....  10,616  732 

Larceny  of  cattle   457  93 

Crimes  against  morals    1,724  118 


This  table  shows  that  relatively  Ireland  records  a  large 
number  of  murders  and  manslaughter  cases;  most  of  them 
were  due  to  drink.  Her  record  in  robberies  and  crimes 
against  morals  is  less  than  half  of  the  proportionate  record 
in  England  and  Wales.  Perhaps  enough  has  been  said  to 
show  that  Ireland  is  not  a  crime-ridden  country;  that,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  more  law-abiding  than  England  itself.  If 
further  evidence  is  needed,  we  may  note  that  the  only  jails  in 
Wexford  and  Donegal  counties  were  closed  several  years 
ago;  that  of  two  jails  in  Tipperary,  one  is  now  used  as  a  con- 
vent, in  which  Sisters  of  Charity  give  technical  instruction  to 
poor  girls;  and  that  an  unused  jail  in  Mullingar,  County 
Westmeath,  is  now  the  scene  of  meetings  of  the  United  Irish 
League.  Members  of  the  organization  rather  enjoy  the 
humor  of  assembling  in  the  building  where  a  good  many  of 
them  were  imprisoned  for  making  speeches  against  the  gov- 
ernment. 

If  the  huge  force  of  police  is  not  needed,  then,  to  cope 
with  an  exceptionally  large  criminal  class,  why  is  Ireland 
compelled  to  support  such  a  body?  The  reason  is  that  the 
Constabulary  was  founded  in  1836  to  support  the  landlords 


238     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 

and  enforce  their  demands,  and  has  been  used  chiefly  for 
that  purpose  ever  since.  The  police  have  been  turned  over 
bodily  to  the  landlords  in  the  various  wars  against  the 
tenants.  They  have  been  used  as  prosecutors,  as  well  as  pre- 
servers of  order.  I  have  seen  uniformed  men  at  public  meet- 
ings taking  shorthand  notes  of  speeches;  in  countless  cases, 
when  the  tenor  of  the  speeches  did  not  please  the  officers  in 
command,  the  armed  force  dispersed  the  crowd,  using  batons 
on  the  heads  of  the  audience.  When  touring  the  country  on 
investigations  I  have  been  honored  by  having  a  policeman 
dog  my  footsteps.  Members  of  the  force  are  also  detailed 
to  protect  landlords,  their  agents  and  the  occupiers  of 
"evicted"  farms  against  the  tenants;  I  heard  of  no  case 
of  their  protecting  a  tenant  against  a  landlord.  They  have 
been  used  also  for  the  intimidation  of  peasants  and  to  assist 
the  civil  forces  in  evicting  tenants  and  destroying  their 
homes.  More  than  that,  the  official  records  are  stained  with 
proof  that  police*  officers  literally  incited,  and  in  some  cases 
themselves  committed,  the  most  despicable  crimes,  then 
charged  them  to  innocent  men  and  caused  convictions  upon 
perjured  testimony. 

Physically,  the  Royal  Irish  Constabulary  is  a  splendid 
body  of  men,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  vast  majority  of 
the  rank  and  file  are  honest,  courageous  fellows,  carrying  out 
the  orders  of  their  superiors  faithfully  and  with  no  move  vio- 
lence than  is  necessary.  None  the  less,  this  armed  force  is  an 
intolerable  burden  to  Ireland,  and  its  absolute  control  by  the 
irresponsible  clique  in  Dublin  Castle  is  one  of  the  strongest 
indictments  of  the  system  of  misgovernment  which  is  crum- 
bling before  the  assaults  of  public  opinion. 


XXVIII 


THE  SYSTEM  A  FAILURE 

These  letters  have  traced,  at  considerable  length,  the 
historical  development  of  the  Irish  question:  have  described 
the  remarkable  economic  changes  for  the  better  wrought  by 
the  remedial  legislation  of  the  last  forty  years,  and  have  set 
forth  some  of  the  more  obvious  evils  and  defects  of  the 
present  system  of  government.  This  system  the  Irish  people 
have  been  lighting  for  more  than  one  hundred  years  to  over- 
turn. The  Union  of  1800.  as  has  been  shown,  was  forced 
upon  the  country  against  the  popular  will,  through  the 
debauchery  of  the  landlord-owned  Irish  Parliament.  Its 
terms  have  never  been  accepted  by  Ireland.  The  statute  of 
limitations  has  never  been  permitted  to  run  against  the 
demand  that  real  Home  Rule  shall  be  restored  to  the  nation. 
Settlement  of  the  land  problem,  that  condition  which  more 
than  anything  else  has  retarded  the  development  of  Ireland, 
is  proceeding  slowly  but  surely  to  a  successful  culmination. 
The  operation  of  the  Land  Purchase  Acts  and  the  mag- 
nificent work  of  the  Congested  Districts  Board,  both  of 
which  agencies  will  be  made  more  effective  by  the  land  bill 
now  pending,  are  transforming  the  agricultural  population 
from  tenants  to  proprietors.  This  change  does  more  than 
open  to  the  farming  class — by  far  the  largest  class  in  Ire- 
land— opportunities  for  prosperity  and  better  living:  it  roots 
the  people  in  the  soil,  tends  to  check  the  deadly  drain  of 
emigration  and  brings  nearer  the  day  when  self-government 
can  no  longer  be  denied.  It  is  proposed  now  to  discuss  the 
grounds  upon  which  rests  the  Irish  demand  for  Home  Rule. 
Setting  aside  the  theoretical  right  of  a  people  to  manage 
their  own  affairs,  we  shall  examine  it  strictly  from  a  practical 
standpoint. 

First  and  foremost,  English  government  of  Ireland  has 

239 


24o  ,  THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


proved  a  failure.  For  more  than  seven  hundred  years  Eng- 
land has  dominated  her  sister  country;  she  has  ''conquered" 
her  not  once,  but  three  or  four  times;  she  has  imposed  upon 
her  English  rulers,  English  laws,  English  institutions;  she 
even  cleared  a  large  part  of  the  country  of  its  original  owners 
and  planted  English  and  Scotch  settlers  in  their  room. 
Finally  she  destroyed  the  Irish  Parliament,  removed  the  seat 
of  government  from  Dublin  to  Westminster,  and  for  the  last 
century  has  tried  the  experiment  of  ruling  Ireland  by  a 
bureaucracy  made  up  of  representatives  of  the  minority,  men 
foreign  in  race  and  sympathy  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people. 
And  the  end  is  failure.  In  increasing  numbers  have  English 
statesmen  of  brains  come  to  realize  that  the  virtually  unani- 
mous testimony  of  students  and  historians  is  correct;  the  sys- 
tem is  an  irremediable  failure,  and  there  will  be  neither  peace 
nor  prosperity  in  the  island  until  self-government  is  substi- 
tuted for  the  complicated  and  costly  machinery  of  alien  rule. 

It  should  not  be  difficult  to  determine  the  ill  success  of 
the  present  system,  which,  in  truth,  has  comparatively  few 
defenders  outside  the  ranks  of  the  most  rabid  landlords  and 
their  followers  and  those  who  uphold  it  on  purely  religious 
grounds.  Governments,  like  individuals,  must  be  judged  by 
results.  What  conditions  have  been  produced  in  Ireland  by 
subjecting  it  to  the  rule  fashioned  in  the  Act  of  Union?  A 
good  government,  a  successful  government,  is  one  which  pre- 
serves order  and  promotes  the  welfare  and  contentment  of 
the  whole  people.  Does  the  government  of  Ireland  meet 
these  tests?  Ixt  us  sec  what  has  been  the  course  of  events 
during  the  last  hundred  years.  In  that  period  the  population 
of  England,  of  Scotland  and  probably  of  every  other  country 
in  the  world  has  steadily  increased;  the  population  of  Ire- 
land, which  grew  rapidly  up  to  1840,  has  as  steadily  declined. 
England's  population  has  been  multiplied  by  four,  Scotland's 
by  three,  while  Ireland's  has  declined  one-fourth — one-half 
in  the  last  sixty  years.  Here  are  the  figures  for  Ireland,  by 
decennial  periods : 

1801   5,600,000         1871   5,412,377 

1841   8,175,134         1881   5,174,836 

1851   6*562,886         1891   4,704,750 

1861   5,798,907         1901   4,458,775 


THE  SYSTEM  A  FAILURE  241 

Remembering  that  the  drain  of  emigration  is  due  to  the 
evils  of  the  old  land  system,  inflicted  by  England  as  part  of 
her  system,  the  loss  may  be  fairly  charged  to  misgovernment. 
This  is  justified  further  by  the  fact  that  the  partial  lifting  of 
the  curse  of  landlordism  has  appreciably  checked  emigration. 
In  September,  1909,  an  official  report  noted  the  first  increase 
in  the  population  since  1840.  Four*  million  emigrants  in 
sixty  years — is  that  evidence  of  good  government?  Simi- 
larly, the  economic  condition  of  Ireland  is  inextricably  bound 
up  with  the  system  of  government  forced  upon  the  country, 
since  for  hundreds  of  years,  as  has  been  shown,  the  chief  pur- 
pose of  the  system  was  to  exploit  Ireland  for  the  benefit  of 
England.  The  average  wage  of  an  agricultural  laborer  in 
England  is  54.56,  in  Scotland  S4.80  and  in  Ireland  S2.72. 
The  average  wages  of  all  classes  are  just  half  what  they  are 
in  England.  Ireland  is  the  fourth  meat-producing  country  in 
the  world  and  the  sixteenth  meat-eating.  Every  year  20,000 
men  and  boys  emigrate  to  England  for  the  harvest  season,  to 
earn  enough  mdney  to  tide  them  over  the  winter.  Through- 
out nearly  the  whole  of  Ireland  there  is  an  amazing  lack  of 
manufacturing.  This  is  directly  chargeable  to  misgovern- 
ment; indeed,  the  destruction  of  Irish  industries  was  one  of 
the  most  deliberate  of  the  policies  of  England  for  two  hun- 
dred years,  and  was  carried  out  by  means  of  carefully  framed 
legislation. 

"There  was  a  time/1  says  Arthur  Balfour,  the  English 
statesman,  "when  the  British  Parliament  thought  they  were 
well  employed  in  crushing  out  Irish  manufactures  in  the 
interests  of  the  British  producer." 

Whenever  Ireland  established  an  industry  and  began  to 
compete  with  English  producers  in  the  same  line  laws  were 
made  to  strangle  it.  Agricultural  products  were  the  first  to 
feel  the  blow.  As  early  as  1663  a  law  was  passed  prohibit- 
ing all  exports  from  Ireland  to  the  colonies  except  victuals, 
servants,  horses  and  salt,  and  prohibiting  the  sending  of  Irish 
cattle  to  England,  this  latter  enterprise  being  denounced  as 
"a  public  and  common  nuisance."  Beef,  pork,  butter  and 
cheese  were  subsequently  excluded,  and  additional  statutes 
stopped  the  exportation  from  Ireland  to  the  English  planta- 
tions of  sugar,  cotton,  wool,  tobacco,  indigo,  ginger  and  fus- 
16 


242     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


tian.  Under  William  III  the  export  of  wool  and  woolen 
manufactures  from  Ireland  was  prohibited,  the  penalty  being 
forfeiture  of  goods  and  ship  and  heavy  fines  for  each  offense. 
By  such  legislation  as  this  Irish  manufacture  of  cotton,  glass, 
iron  and  hats  was  also  suppressed. 

uOne  by  one,"  wrote  Lord  Dufferin,  "each  of  our 
nascent  industries  was  either  strangled  in  its  birth  or  handed 
over,  gagged  and  bound,  to  the  jealous  custody  of  the  rival 
interests  of  England,  until  at  last  every  fountain  of  wealth 
was  hermetically  sealed,  and  even  the  traditions  of  com- 
mercial enterprise  have  perished  through  desuetude." 

That  the  stagnation  of  industry  in  Ireland  is  due  to 
misgovernment,  in  fact,  no  attempt  is  made  to  deny.  Cor- 
roborative evidence  is  found  in  the  revival  which  followed 
the  establishment  of  a  free  Irish  Parliament  in  1782. 
Almost  immediately  ruined  factories  were  rebuilt,  new  ones 
sprang  up,  the  urban  population  rose  rapidly  and  everywhere 
skilled  labor  was  put  in  training.  But  after  the  Union  of 
1800  there  was  as  distinct  and  as  rapid  a  decline.  Stagna- 
tion and  decay  spread  throughout  industrial  Ireland,  and  the 
conditions  to-day  have  resulted. 

Here  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  a  little.  Opponents  of 
Home  Rule  will  admit  that  Ireland  as  a  whole  has  suffered 
a  decline  in  population,  a  heavy  drain  in  emigration  and  an 
industrial  relapse.  But,  they  say,  vehemently,  all,  of  very 
nearly  all,  of. the  loss  has  been  in  the  south  and  west;  it  is 
Nationalist.  Ireland  that  has  suffered,  because  of  the  notori- 
ous ignorance  and  incapacity  of  the  people;  Ulster,  on  the 
contrary,  has  prospered  continuously,  because  of  the  intelli- 
gence and  thrift  of  its  inhabitants.  This  view  is  highly  inter- 
esting and  quite  worthy  of  examination.  Here  are  the  emi- 
gration figures  for  the  four  provinces  for  1906: 

Leinster    5,079      Minister    10,054 

Connaught   7,880       Ulster    12,331 

There  is  more  rapid  emigration  at  this  time  from  Ulster, 
then,  than  from  any  other  province.  Taking  a  broader  view, 
Ulster  lost  thirty-four  per  cent,  of  her  population  between 
1 841  and  1 901,  while  all  Ireland  lost  forty-five  per  cent.  It 
appears,  therefore,  that  Ulster  has  suffered  with  the  rest  of 


Photo  copyright  by  Purely,  Boston. 

JOHN  DILLON,  11  P. 


THE  SYSTEM  A  FAILURE  243 

the  country  from  the  governmental  conditions  which  reduce 
population.  Ulster,  of  course,  remains  the  chief  industrial 
center,  and  is  likely  to  retain  its  supremacy,  for  the  reason 
that  the  skilled  labor  is  available  there  and  in  no  other  part 
of  the  island.  But  gradual  stagnation  is  visible  there,  too. 
Following  aretfhe  number  of  persons  employed  in  the  textile 
industries  in  the  years  named : 

1871   193,864  1891   129,884 

1881   129,787  1901   109,588 

Linen  manufacture,  by  far  the  largest  of  the  textile 
industries,  employed  85,000  persons  in  1891 ;  it  employs  now 
about  70,000.    The  woolen  industry  shows  a  like  decline. 

Another  test  of  good  government  is  its  effect  upon  the 
temper  of  the  people.  Good  government  produces  peace  and 
contentment.  Since  the  Act  of  Union  there  have  been  three 
insurrections — in  1803,  in  1848  and  in  1867.  And  in  order 
to  forestall  the  retort  that  these  outbursts  were  due  to  reli- 
gious hatred  of  England,  let  us  note  that  Emmet,  in  1803, 
and  Thomas  Davis,  John  Mitchel  and  Smith  O'Brien,  in 
1848,  were  Protestants.  In  addition  to  these  armed  risings, 
there  has  been  a  succession  of  unarmed  rebellions  against 
English  authority,  which  English  statesmen  of  to-day  are 
compelled  to  acknowledge  were  forced  upon  the  people  by 
intolerable  oppression. 

Good  government  establishes  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
As  evidence  upon  the  former  we  find  a  Coercion  Act  for 
every  year  of  the  nineteenth  century;  that  is,  the  suspension 
of  trial  by  jury,  free  speech,  a  free  press  and  virtually  every 
other  form  of  political  freedom.  LTpon  the  matter  of 
religious  liberty  we  find  that  equality  before  the  law  was 
not  granted  until  1829,  and  that  to-day  discrimination  on 
religious  grounds  permeates  the  government,  the  profes- 
sional classes  and  every  field  of  activity  which  the  upholders 
of  the  present  system  control. 

Good  government  means  just  taxation.  Yet  we  have 
the  testimony  of  an  English  commission  that  Ireland  was 
overtaxed  $12,500,000  a  year,  in  proportion  to  England,  in 
1895,  and  $10,000,000  has  been  added  to  the  taxation  since 
then. 

The  very  foundation  stone  of  good  government  is  fair 


244     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 

representation.  Where  Ireland  stands  in  this  regard  has 
already  been  demonstrated.  True,  she  has  fair  representa- 
tion in  the  British  Parliament,  but  in  the  executive,  adminis- 
trative and  judicial  departments  in  Ireland  the  power  is  in 
the  hands  of  a  reactionary  minority,  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  having  no  voice  whatever  in  these  affairs. 

Good  government  implies  a  judicial  system  responsive 
in  some  measure  to  public  opinion  and  untainted  by  favorit- 
ism or  class  prejudice.  The  high  courts  of  Ireland  are  domi- 
nated absolutely  by  the  "garrison,"  while  the  minor  judiciary 
is  made  up  almost  exclusively  of  landlords  or  their  agents  or 
sympathizers,  men  who,  for  the  most  part,  are  antagonistic 
to  the  people  and  in  any  event  are  quite  out  of  reach  of 
popular  opinion. 

By  every  test  that  can  be  applied  the  present  system  of 
governing  Ireland  is  a  failure.  It  is  complicated,  costly,  irre- 
sponsible, incrusted  with  prejudices  and  injustices,  a  detri- 
ment to  the  advancement  of  the  country  and  its  people, 
because  it  is  wholly  removed  from  and  antagonistic  to  the 
public  opinion  of  the  nation.  No  less  is  it  a  disadvantage  to 
Great  Britain.  The  Irish  Parliamentary  Party,  as  has  been 
pointed  out,  is  in  Parliament,  but  not  of  it.  The  members 
frankly  appear  in  that  body  as  foreigners.  Their  sole  pur- 
pose is  to  serve  Ireland,  to  win  for  her  every  advantage  they 
can,  and  frequently  they  accomplish  their  ends  by  hampering 
and  obstructing  the  business  of  the  Empire.  They  will  con- 
tinue to  do  this  as  long  as  they  are  there  to  represent  Ire- 
land's protest.  Gladstone's  Home  Rule  bills  of  1886  and 
1893  were  defeated  because  they  aroused  the  fears  of  Eng- 
lish imperialists  for  the  unity  and  security  of  the  Empire. 
Statesmen  of  to-day  are  realizing  that  continuance  of  the  sys- 
tem which  breeds  Irish  hostility  must  be  a  far  greater  peril 
than  the  granting  of  autonomy  would  be.  It  is  difficult  to 
understand  the  theory  that  governing  a  people  against  their 
will  makes  them  a  source  of  strength,  while  giving  them  the 
form  of  government  they  desire  would  arouse  enmity. 

"After  all,"  says  L.  Paul-Dubois,  a  sane  and  impartial 
observer,  ui|  not  Home  Rule  (call  it  by  what  name  we  will) 
the  best  of  unionisms?    Is  it  not  the  most  solid  basis  and  the 


THE  SYSTEM  A  FAILURE  245 

surest  guarantee  of  Anglo-Irish  union?  England,  moreover, 
cannot  always  deny  to  Ireland  her  rights,  nor  reserve  all  her 
severities  for  the  sister  isle  and  all  her  favors  for  the  colonies. 
She  cannot  always  allow  the  Irish  question  to  remain  an  open 
sore,  a  factor  of  trouble  between  herself  and  that  'Greater 
Ireland,'  the  United  States,  whose  friendship  she  has  so  long 
desired  to  win." 

"But,"  say  the  Unionists,  "Ireland  is  disloyal.  She 
attacks  the  Imperial  policies  of  England.  She  presents  to 
the  world  a  constant  spectacle  of  turmoil  and  dissension.  If 
she  were  loyal  her  demands  might  receive  more  kindlv  atten- 
tion.'1 

Surely  this  is  a  strange  attitude,  when  the  history  of  the 
British  empire  shows,  as  might  be  expected,  that  loyalty  is 
the  result,  and  not  the  forerunner,  of  self-government.  Aus- 
tralia. South  Africa,  Canada — all  went  through  the  same 
experience  as  Ireland,  except  that,  being  farther  from  the 
seat  of  the  Imperial  government,  they  were  able  to  enforce 
their  demands  more  rapidly.  They  had  their  "treasons/' 
plots  and  rebellions;  they  suffered  coercion,  imprisonments, 
executions.  They  had,  too,  their  local  "Ulsters,''  groups  of 
ultra-loyalists  who  called  heaven  to  witness  that  they  alone 
represented  public  opinion,  and  bitterly  opposed  concessions 
to  the  majority  on  the  ground  that  such  a  course  meant  the 
disintegration  of  the  Empire.  Yet  in  each  case  autonomy 
was  granted,  and  with  what  result?  That  rebellion  and 
opposition  died  down,  loyalty  became  universal  and  the  great 
British  federation  of  to-day  was  built  upon  a  foundation  of 
self-government,  justice  and  mutual  esteem. 

Let  those  who  condemn  Ireland  for  demanding  Home 
Rule  while  opposing  Imperial  policies  consider  the  case  of 
Canada,  as  remarkable  a  parallel  as  may  be  found  in  history. 
There,  as  in  Ireland,  were  two  races  and  two  religions,  and 
they  were  separated  by  animosities  far  more  bitter  than 
to-day  separate  Nationalists  and  Unionists.  England  con- 
ferred upon  the  country,  in  response  to  agitation,  a  half-way 
compromise  constitution.  Upper  Canada  (now  Ontario) 
and  Lower  Canada  (now  Quebec)  had  each  an  elected 
House  of  Assembly  and  a  nominated  "Senate."    All  execu- 


246     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


tive  power,  however,  remained  with  the  appointed  governor 
and  his  council,  who<  were  responsible  to  London  and  in  no 
degree  whatsoever  to  the  people  of  Canada.  Against  this 
system  there  arose  a  fierce  agitation,  which  for  years  kept  the 
country  in  turmoil.  Monster  meetings  were  held,  when 
Nationalist  banners  were  flaunted  and  Nationalist  sentiments 
flung  in  the  face  of  the  government.  Coercion  just  as  savage 
as  in  Ireland  was  applied.  Meetings  were  proscribed,  speak- 
ers arrested  and  imprisoned,  newspapers  suppressed. 

During  all  this  time  the  Canadian  "Ulster"  was,  of 
course,  active,  loudly  proclaiming  its  loyalty — to  England, 
not  to  Canada — and  calling  upon  the  government  to  exter- 
minate this  propaganda  of  the  majority  and  restore  the  rule 
of  the  minority.  The  whole  trouble,  they  said — and  how 
familiar  it  sounds! — was  due  to  the  fulminations  of  irre^ 
sponsible  agitators  and  the  efforts  of  "a  majority  in  numbers 
only"  to  dominate  the  "wealth,  education  and  enterprise"  of 
the  country.  In  a  final  effort  to  quell  the  agitation  England 
suspended  the  Canadian  governmental  system  altogether. 
The  effect  was  to  consolidate  the  opposition  and  fan  the 
embers  of  rebellion.  In  1837,  when  the  British  empire  was 
rejoicing  over  the  ascent  of  Queen  Victoria  to  the  throne, 
Canada  was  in  arms.  The  revolt  was  short-lived,  but  it  was 
successful.  England  hastened  to  grant  Home  Rule,  and  for 
seventy  years  Canada,  peaceful,  loyal  and  prosperous,  has 
been  marching  forward  in  the  ranks  of  the  free  nations  of 
the  world. 

The  story  of  Canada  presents  every  feature  of  that  of 
Ireland — disaffection,  a  diminishing  population,  industrial 
stagnation,  racial  and  religious  strife,  open  rebellion — except 
that  she  won  her  rights,  while  Ireland  has  not.  Canada 
to-day  is  unaffectedly  loyal  to  Great  Britain,  while  her 
government  is  wholly  free.  There  is  no  hostility  between  the 
races,  and  sectarian  animosity  is  negligible.  A  French  Cath- 
olic, Sir  Wilfrid  Laurier,  is  Prime  Minister,  honored  by  all 
citizens.  Canada  is  growing  in  wealth,  power  and  national 
stature;  Ireland,  which  stands  to-day  exactly  where  Canada 
stood  before  Home  Rule  was  granted,  is  disaffected, 
harassed  by  differences,  afflicted  with  poverty  and  misgovern- 
ment.    What  is  the  inevitable  deduction? 


THE  SYSTEM  A  FAILURE  247 

It  is  found  on  the  records  of  the  Canadian  Parliament, 
which  again  and  again  has  urged  the  British  government  to 
grant  to  Ireland  the  Home  Rule  which  Canada  enjoys.  It 
is  found  in  the  parliamentary  records  of  every  self-governing 
colony  of  the  British  empire  to  the  same  effect.  It  is  found 
in  the  records  of  the  British  Parliament  itself,  not  only  in  the 
speeches  of  such  leaders  as  Gladstone  and  Bright,  but  in  the 
passage  of  a  Home  Rule  resolution  through  the  House  of 
Commons  at  this  very  session,  supported  by  nearly  five- 
sixths  of  the  membership. 


XXIX 


HOME  RULE  TESTED 

Against  the  Home  Rule  demand  of  Ireland,  backed  by 
the  unanimous  indorsement  of  the  colonies,  by  public  opinion 
throughout  the  world  and  by  the  great  Liberal  Party  in  Eng- 
land, what  have  the  Unionists  to  offer?  How  do  they 
attempt  to  justify  their  campaign  to  perpetuate  a  system  of 
government  which  is  so  universally  condemned  and  whose 
sole  function  is  to  make  paramount  the  will  of  the  minority? 
They  present  no  argument  except  that  it  would  be  unfair  to 
the  minority  to  give  the  majority  fair  representation;  that 
the  "loyalists"  would  be  oppressed  by  the  majority,  and  an 
era  of  religious  discrimination  and  persecution  opened. 

One  cannot  but  marvel  at  the  frankness  of  this  attitude. 
Having  forcibly  held  minority  rule  for  some  three  hundred 
years,  and  having  clung  as  long  as  they  could  to  legal  dis- 
crimination on  religious  grounds,  and  maintaining  to-day  a 
strict  religious  test,  not  only  in  affairs  of  government,  but  in 
professional  and  commercial  activities,  they  complain  bitterly 
that  government  upon  a  fairly  representative  basis  will  inflict 
upon  them  their  own  policies.  If  what  they  say  were  true, 
who  will  say  that  selfish  rule  by  a  majority  is  worse  than 
selfish  rule  by  a  minority?  But  is  it  true?  How  much  have 
the  timorous  supporters  of  the  oligarchy  to  fear?  They 
fought  emancipation  as  an  opening  of  the  door  to  persecu- 
tion; they  fought  extension  of  the  franchise  as  an  invitation 
to  anarchy  and  spoliation;  they  have  fought  land  reform  and 
land  purchase  as  desperate  assaults  upon  property  and  stable 
government.  Yet  each  of  these,  as  every  sane  man  knows, 
marked  a  step  toward  justice,  equality  and  national  pros- 
perity. Now  they  make  their  last  stand  against  Home  Rule 
upon  reasoning  just  as  logical  as  that  they  advanced  against 
the  other  changes. 

248 


HOME  RULE  TESTED 


What  have  they  to  fear  ?  How  much  force  is  there  in 
the  plea  that  Home  Rule  would  mean  a  reversal  of  the 
process  of  political  and  religious  oppression?  There  is  evi- 
dence upon  which  to  base  judgment. 

In  1898  was  passed  an  act  conferring  on  the  Irish 
people  self-government  in  local  affairs — with  the  exception 
of  the  judiciary  and  the  police.  Previous  to  that  time  public 
business  in  each  county  was  in  the  hands  of  a  grand  jury 
appointed  by  the  sheriff,  that  is,  by  Dublin  Castle.  This 
body,  made  up  of  men  wholly  unsympathetic  to  most  of  the 
people,  and  quite  removed  from  popular  influence,  fixed 
the  tax  rate  and  conducted  all  local  affairs,  having  sweeping 
administrative  as  well  as  judicial  functions.  Under  the  Act 
of  1898  the  grand  juries  were  restricted  to  such  powers  as 
they  have  in  this  country.  Local  administration  passed  into 
the  control  of  elected  county  councils.  There  are  thirty-three 
of  these,  and  three  hundred  and  two  urban  and  rural  district 
councils,  besides  city  councils  in  Dublin,  Belfast,  London- 
derry, Cork,  Limerick  and  Waterford.  All  of  these  bodies 
are  elected  on  a  broad  franchise,  including  women.  Their 
operations  are  supervised  by  the  Local  Government  Board, 
one  of  the  departments  of  Dublin  Castle. 

The  change  from  the  old  system,  obviously,  was  revolu- 
tionary. It  was  the  establishment  of  democracy — Home 
Rule — in  local  affairs.  By  the  elections  Nationalist  authority 
has  been  placed  in  charge  of  the  public  business  of  twenty- 
seven  of  the  thirty-two  counties.  The  people  of  Nationalist 
Ireland  and  the  people  of  the  irreconcilable  part  of  Ulster 
elect  and  control  men  of  their  own  choice.  Needless  to  say,  the 
proposal  to  grant  such  a  measure  of  self-government  was 
bitterly  denounced  by  the  reactionary  element.  The  great 
mass  of  the  people,  it  was  said,  were  quite  unfit  for  the 
responsibilities  of  managing  public  affairs.  Once  the  major- 
ity obtained  the  rights  of  free  citizens  they  would  start  the 
country  on  the  road  to  ruin  by  their  tendencies  toward  ex- 
travagance and  corruption  and  their  mad  desire  to  extermi- 
nate the  minority. 

Never  were  prophecies  of  gloom  more  picturesquely 
made  ridiculous  by  events.  For  eleven  years  Ireland  has  had 
Home  Rule  in  local  affairs,  and  the  testimony,  not  of  the 


250     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


people,  but  of  the  sternfy  critical  Local  Government  Board 
and  of  Unionist  leaders,  is  that  the  new  order  of  things  is  a 
triumphant  success.  Conduct  of  the  local  bodies  is  not,  to 
be  sure,  the  pink  of  perfection ;  here  and  there  time  is  wasted 
in  acrimonious  discussions  and  in  anti-English  demonstra- 
tions. But  there  has  been  no  extravagance,  there  has  been 
no  oppression  or  persecution  and  there  has  been  real  capacity 
for  economical  and  efficient  government. 

Now,  this  is  important.  Granting  to  Ireland  self-gov- 
ernment in  local  affairs  was  to  be  a  test  of  the  ability  of  the 
people  to  manage  the  larger  activities  of  national  govern- 
ment. Lord  Salisbury,  in  1885,  predicted  that  the  result  of 
conferring  local  authority  upon  the  people  would  be  misman- 
agement, corruption  and  intolerance.  Gerald  Balfour,  the 
English  member,  who  had  charge  of  the  Local  Government 
Act  of  1898,  on  the  other  hand,  declared  that  "if  the  coun- 
cilors did  their  work  with  business  capacity,  and  in  a  spirit 
of  toleration,  it  would  mitigate  one  of  the  arguments  which 
has  always  been  felt  to  tell  heavily  in  England  against  Home 
Rule." 

What  has  been  the  outcome  ?  The  strongest  testimony, 
naturally,  must  be  that  of  the  Local  Government  Board, 
which  has  supervisory  powers  over  the  county  councils  and 
other  local  bodies,  and  which  is  thoroughly  Unionist  in  its 
sympathies,  being  one  of  the  departments  of  Dublin  Castle. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  year's  trial  of  local  self-government, 
in  its  report  for  1900,  this  body  said: 

"The  predictions  of  those  who  affirmed  that  the  new  local  bodies 
intrusted  with  the  .administration  of  a  complex  system  of  county 
government  would  inevitably  break  down  have  certainly  not  been 
verified.  On  the  contrary,  the  county  and  district  councils  have, 
with  few  exceptions,  properly  discharged  the  statutory  duties 
devolving  upon  them.  Instances  have  no  doubt  occurred  in  which 
these  bodies  have,  owing  to  inexperience  and  to  an  inadequate  staff, 
found  themselves  in  difficulties',  and  have  had  to  receive  some 
special  assistance  from  us  in  regulating  their  affairs;  but  this  has 
been  of  rare  occurrence,  and  we  are  confident  that  before  the  term 
of  office  of  the  first  councils  elected  under  the  act  expires  the  new 
machinery  will  be  working  very  smoothly  throughout  Ireland." 

After  another  year's  trial  the  board  reported,  in  1901 : 

"Our  further  experience  enables  us  to  confirm  the  statement  in 
our  last  report  as  to  the  satisfactory  manner  in  which  the  duties 
of  the  county  councils  and  rural  district  councils  have  been  dis- 


A  RELIC  OF  THE  PAST. 


A  HOME  OF  TOD  AT. 


HOME  RULE  TESTED  251 

charged.  No  doubt  in  some  instances  there  has  been  action,  or 
sometimes  inaction,  which  did  not  seem  to  accord  with  the  inten- 
tions of  the  Legislature;  but,  apart  from  such  exceptional 
instances,  their  duties  have  been  satisfactorily  and  creditably  dis- 
charged by  the  councils  and  their  officials  throughout  Ireland,  and 
the  councils,  we  are  glad  to  observe,  appear  to  recognize  the  zeal 
and  ability  with  which  they  are  served  by  their  official  staff." 

In  1902  the  board  had  this  to  say: 

"The  term  of  office  of  the  first  county  councils  and  rural  dis- 
tricts councils,  on  whom,  with  their  officers,  rests  the  credit  of 
having  successfully  assisted  in  carrying  the  Local  Government  Act 
into  operation,  expired  in  June,  and  the  new  councils,  with  the 
experience  of  the  past  three  years,  will  no  doubt  endeavor  to  bring 
the  system  into  a  state  of  even  greater  efficiency. 

"Attention  has  been  directed  to  certain  political  differences, 
which  have  been  introduced  by  some  of  the  smaller  bodies  into  their 
ordinary  business  transactions,  with  reference  to  the  appointment 
of  officers  and  the  giving  of  contracts,  but  it  is  only  fair  to  state 
that  these  cases  have  been  quite  the  exception  and  not  the  rule; 
they  have  been  promptly  dealt  with,  and  we  feel  confident  that  the 
conduct  of  their  affairs  by  the  various  local  authorities  and  their 
officials  will  continue  to  justify  the  delegation  to  them  of  the  large 
powers  transferred  to  their  control  bv  the  Local  Government 
Acts." 

In  1903  the  report  was  virtually  the  same;  since  that 
date  I  find  no  general  comment  upon  the  work  of  the  local 
bodies,  the  justice  and  efficiency  of  the  system  being  taken  for 
granted,  after  several  years'  trial;  but  in  specific  details  the 
supervising  board  commends  the  industry  and  intelligence 
displayed. 

Economy  and  efficiency,  therefore,  mark  the  adminis- 
tration of  these  elected  bodies.  But  how  about  the  predicted 
oppression  of  the  minority  in  the  large  number  of  districts 
where  Nationalists  far  outnumber  Unionists?  How  has  the 
minority  fared  under  Home  Rule  as  applied  to  local  affairs? 
To  what  extent  have  religious  differences  operated  against 
the  opponents  of  Nationalism,  who  said  that  those  differences 
would  cause  discrimination  and  persecution? 

Figures  are  at  hand  showing  the  status  of  the  elected 
bodies  in  1907,  since  which  there  has  been  little  change. 
At  that  time  the  county  councils  had  the  political  complex- 
ion of  the  inhabitants  of  the  various  districts.  It  is  difficult 
to  see  how  it  could  be  otherwise.  Where  nine-tenths  of  the 
people  are  Nationalists,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  the  same 
proportion  of  Nationalists  on  the  county  council.  Where 


252     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


there  is  a  heavy  preponderance  of  Unionists,  most  of  the 
councilors  naturally  are  of  that  party.  Each  council,  more- 
over, appoints  several  score  of  public  officers.  Here  there  is 
abundant  opportunity  for  "playing  politics"  and  for  the  exer- 
cise of  discrimination  upon  political  and  religious  grounds. 

Yet  the  record  completely  refutes  the  assertion  that 
Home  Rule  in  local  affairs  means  the  exclusion  of  the  minor- 
ity from  public  life.  On  the  contrary,  strongly  Unionist 
councils  make  some  Nationalist  appointments  and  strongly 
Nationalist  councils  select  many  Unionists  for  paid  offices. 
The  records  are  conclusive,  moreover,  in  showing  that  in 
districts  where  the  sentiment  is  overwhelmingly  Nationalist 
the  minority  gets  far  larger  representation  than  does  the 
Nationalist  minority  in  districts  overwhelmingly  Unionist. 
It  will  be  understood  that  political  divisions  virtually  parallel 
religious  divisions.  Hence  the  terms  Nationalist  and  Union- 
ist are  about  synonymous  with  Catholic  and  Protestant, 
although  there  are  many  Protestant  Nationalists  and  Catho- 
lic Unionists.  This  explanation  is  made  in  order  that  the 
reader  may  observe  that  under  Home  Rule,  in  local  affairs, 
both  political  and  religious  differences  are  being  submerged 
in  *he  desire  for  good  and  equitable  administration. 

Taking  a  few  counties  at  random,  we  find  that  Armagh, 
where  fifty-six  per  cent,  of  the  people  are  Unionists,  the 
county  council  consists  of  eight  Nationalists  and  twenty- 
two  Unionists,  but  only  three  of  the  fifty  salaried  officers 
employed  are  Nationalists.  With  a  little  more  than  half  of 
the  population,  the  Unionists  take  ninety-four  per  cent,  of 
the  appointments.  Antrim,  having  a  population  of  eighty 
per  cent.  Unionist,  elects  twenty-six  Unionists  among  the 
twenty-nine  councilors,  and  the  council  appoints  sixty  Union- 
ists and  five  Nationalists  to  salaried  offices.  With  eighty 
per  cent,  of  the  popular  vote  the  Unionists  claim  ninety-two 
per  cent,  of  the  jobs.  Tyrone's  population  is  55  per  cent. 
Nationalist,  yet  the  council  consists  of  sixteen  Unionists  to 
thirteen  Nationalists.  In  the  matter  of  appointments  the 
Unionist  majority  makes  full  use  of  its  power,  naming  no 
fewer  than  forty-seven  out  of  the  fifty-two  officers. 

On  the  other  hand,  Cork,  which  is  ninety  per  cent. 
Nationalist,  elects  a  council  composed  exclusively  of  Na- 


HOME  RULE  TESTED 


253 


tionalists,  yet  forty  of  the  one  hundred  and  ninety-one  ap- 
pointments— more  than  twenty  per  cent. — are  given  to 
Unionists.  Cavan  likewise  elects  a  wholly  Nationalist  coun- 
cil, yet  twenty-six  of  fifty-six  appointments — forty-six  per 
cent. — of  the  salaried  offices  go  to  Unionists. 

As  the  opposition  to  local  Home  Rule  has  come  wholly 
from  Unionists,  and  wholly  on  the  ground  that  it  invites 
oppression  of  Unionist  citizens,  these  figures  are  illuminat- 
ing. They  show  unmistakably  that  Nationalist  districts 
treat  the  minority  much  more  fairly  and  generously  than 
Unionist  districts.  Those  who  have  thought  that  the  demo- 
cratic system  would  lead  to  discrimination  against  Unionists 
are  invited  to  study  the  accompanying  table.  The  first  col- 
umn gives  the  percentage  of  the  dominant  party  in  the  popu- 
lation, the  second  column  gives  the  political  division  of  the 
county  council  and  the  third  column  the  salaried  officers 
appointed,  with  their  politics:  ** 


County.                                         Population.  Council.  Appointments. 

Per  cent.  Nat.         Un.  Nat.  Uq. 

Armagh                                   56  Un.  8       22  3  47 

Galway  ,                                 94  Nat.  32        1  50  11 

Tyrone                                    55  Nat.  13       16  5  47 

Cork                                        90  Nat.  All  Nat.  151  40 

Fermanagh                              55  Nat.  10       17  17  58 

Cavan                                     81  Nat.  All  Nat.  30  26 

West  Meath                            92  Nat.  26        5  37  17 

Kings                                     89  Nat.  27        1  21  19 

Limerick  95  Nat.  26        2  39  6 

Antrim                                     80  Un.  26        3  5  60 

Monaghan                                73  Nat.  25        2  34  23 

Louth                                       90  Nat.  31        2  36  17 

Kildare                                    86  Nat.  23        3  31  9 

Clare                                       98  Nat.  All  Nat.  62  6 

Roscommon                              98  Nat.  29        1  48  8 

Sligo                                      90  Nat.  All  Nat.  58  14 

Mayo   97  Nat.  All  Nat.  69  8 

Queens                                     88  Nat.  All  Nat.  25  11 

Tipperary,  North                     93  Nat.  All  Nat.  19  8 

Tipperary,  South                     94  Nat.  31         1  24  9 

Leitrim                                    90  Nat.  26        0  22  10 

Carlow                                     88  Nat.  23        2  27  18 

Kerry                                      97  Nat.  All  Nat.  93  19 

Meath                                      92  Nat.  29        2  38  14 


Summarized,  these  figures  show  that  in  the  two  Unionist 
counties  the  Unionists  average  sixty-eight  per  cent,  of  the 
population  and  hold  ninety-three  per  cent,  of  the  appoint- 


254     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


ments ;  while  in  the  Nationalist  counties  the  Nationalists  aver- 
age eighty-seven  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  the  population  and 
hold  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  appointments.  If  Home  Rule 
means  discrimination,  where  does  it  appear? 

As  I  close  these  letters  two  curious  pictures  come  to  me. 
On  a  bright  June  day  in  1900  I  stood  on  the  railroad  plat- 
form at  Pretoria,  chatting  with  a  stout,  bearded  man  who 
leaned  over  the  rear  platform  of  a  train.  He  was  in  mili- 
tary uniform,  and  the  train  was  loaded  with  armed  troops 
which  he  commanded,  infantry  and  artillery.  Over  the 
stony  hills  to  the  southward  came  the  irregular  thud  of  field 
guns,  for  the  attacking  army  was  closing  in  on  the  Boer  cap- 
ital. Presently  the  train  pulled  out,  the  man  on  the  rear 
platform  waving  a  courteous  good-bye. 

It  was  General  Louis  Botha,  commander  of  the  Boer 
troops  fighting  the  British  forces,  on  his  way  to  the  front,  to 
maintain  for  two  years  an  unequal  struggle  against  the 
Imperial  armies. 

The  other  picture  is  seven  years  later — May,  1907. 
Outside  the  Guildhall,  in  London,  the  streets  are  packed  with 
dense  crowds,  the  buildings  gay  with  many  flags.  Through 
the  lanes  of  people  rolls  a  carriage,  preceded  by  a  clattering 
squadron  of  mounted  guards  and  followed  by  a  mighty  wave 
of  cheers.  From  the  carriage  steps  a  stoutly  built  man  in 
frock  suit  and  silk  hat.  Bowing  gravely  to  the  plaudits  of 
the  crowd,  he  passes  into  the  Guildhall,  to  be  honored  by  the 
greatest  men  of  England  and  her  colonies. 

It  is  the  Right  Honorable  General  Louis  Botha,  Prime 
Minister  of  the  Transvaal,  political  ruler  of  a  self-governing 
unit  of  the  Empire. 

Home  Rule  in  the  Transvaal,  a  free  Parliament  in  Pre- 
toria, the  enemy's  commander  as  Prime  Minister,  within  five 
years  of  the  ending  of  the  war.  England  can  be  just  and 
generous  to  the  Boer.  Does  Ireland  deserve  less?  Will  the 
interests  of  the  Empire  be  conserved  with  less? 


^POSTSCRIPT 


THE  RELIGIOUS  QUESTION 

Here's  for  a  friendly  shirt-sleeve  talk  with  those  active 
correspondents  who  have  been  so  frankly  critical  of  my  writ- 
ings on  the  Irish  question.  In  the  lull  before  the  last  two 
letters  on  the  subject — only  two  more! — come  clattering 
down  on  their  unwilling  heads,  let  us  see  where  we  stand.  A 
personal  discussion  of  this  character  has  no  sort  of  place  in 
the  general  treatment  of  the  subject,  but  it  will  serve  to  clear 
up  some  obscurities  that  are  unavoidable  in  the  haste  of  news- 
paper writing.  First  let  me  repeat  the  happy  announcement 
that  two  more  letters  will  complete  the  series.  I  am  aware 
of  several  correspondents,  most  of  them  anonymous,  who  will 
be  glad  it's  no  worse.  I  can  assure  them  they're  not  any 
more  gratified  than  I  am.  For  one  whose  time  is  pretty  well 
occupied,  the  study  and  discussion  of  a  matter  as  big  as  the 
Irish  question  is  no  idle  amusement. 

More  than  one  person,  in  a  desire  to  express  dissent, 
wrote  that  the  letters  made  them  "tired."  I  haven't  the 
slightest  doubt  of  it.  They  made  me  tired,  too,  and  I  never 
wrote  anything  with  more  genuine  relief  than  I  wrote  the  last 
word  of  the  last  sentence  of  the  last  letter.  If  I  felt  some- 
what exhausted,  in  spite  of  firm  conviction  that  everything  I 
wrote  was  true  and  fair,  it  is  not  astonishing  that  readers  who 
differ  should  feel  exhausted,  too.  Incidentally,  let  me  urge 
them  to  read  those  two  letters,  even  at  the  risk  of  further 
prostration.  I've  read  their  communications — the  most 
severe  ones  with  the  greatest  entertainment — and  it's  only 
fair  that  they  should  read  mine.  They're  not  bad  letters, 
really. 

To  begin  at  the  beginning,  the  most  frequent  criticism 

*This  statement  was  published  just  before  the  closing  of  the 
series  of  letters,  in  response  to  criticisms,  the  nature  of  which  is 
indicated. 

255 


256     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 

of  my  articles  is  upon  religious  grounds.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  that  is  not  only  the  beginning,  but  the  end  and  the  mid- 
dle as  well.  With  one  or  two  exceptions,  from  persons  who 
wrote  intelligently  as  well  as  with  conviction,  the  letters  con- 
demned what  I  had  written  as  being  part  of  a  religious  con- 
troversy or  propaganda.  In  a  single  breath,  or  rather  with 
a  single  dip  in  the  inkstand,  these  correspondents  denounced 
me  for  dragging  religion  into  the  discussion  and  then  proved 
I  was  a  literary  outcast  because  I  did  not  make  their  religious 
views  the  paramount  factor.  One  indignant  person — I 
recall  that  his  letter  made  a  radiant  break  in  a  rather  dull 
day — dismissed  my  labors  with  the  charge  that  I  was  a  "nar- 
row-minded bigot, "  hopelessly  enslaved  by  the  Church  to 
which  he  assigned  me.  Perhaps  this  will  be  sufficient  apology 
for  the  very  personal  disclosure  that  back  of  my  Americanism 
is  an  ancestry  of  double-dyed  Ulster  Scotch-Irish  and  that 
the  nearest  approach  to  a  saint  in  my  church  is  John  Wesley. 
[Upon  my  word,  I  don't  see  that  this  fact  is  of  surpassing 
interest,  now  that  I  have  written  it.  But  if  my  views  on 
Home  Rule  are  to  be  repudiated  on  account  of  my  theo- 
logical convictions,  let's  get  the  record  straight.] 

So  we  come  now  to  the  important  objection  of  my  crit- 
ical friends.  Why  was  religion  introduced  in  the  discussion 
at  all?  Setting  aside  the  fact  that  nine  out  of  ten  of  the 
opponents  of  Home  Rule — those  who  have  written  about  my 
articles,  at  least — oppose  it  on  religious  grounds,  how  can  it 
be  said  that  I  introduced  it?  They  might  as  well  accuse  me 
of  inventing  landlordism  or  of  discovering  Dublin  Castle. 
One  may  deprecate  the  prominence  of  religion  in  the  strife 
that  has  afflicted  Ireland,  but  one  cannot  in  fairness  ignore  it. 
It  is  a  fact,  and  the  discussion  of  Irish  affairs  which  evades  it 
is  futile  and  dishonest.  Religious  differences  made  much  of 
Irish  history  and  were  the  direct  and  openly  avowed  inspira- 
tion of  some  of  the  most  important  legislation  affecting  the 
country.  Religious  discrimination  is  one  of  the  evils  charged 
against  the  present  system  of  government;  religion  constitutes 
one  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  people,  and  a  conflict  of 
religious  convictions  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  opposition  to 
Home  Rule.  If  religion  was  "dragged  into"  the  Irish  ques- 
tion, the  dragging  was  done  by  Elizabeth,  James  I,  William 


POSTSCRIPT  257 

III,  James  II  and  their  Parliaments,  but  there's  no  use  writ- 
ing peevish  letters  to  them,  because  they're  dead.  And  if  it 
is  kept  in,  the  keeping  is  done  by  those  who  denounce  the  idea 
of  self-government  upon  the  ground  that  it  would  confer 
equal  rights  upon  citizens  of  a  different  faith.  It  enters  into 
the  question  in  no  other  way.  If  the  demand  for  Home 
Rule  stood  upon  nothing  more  than  religious  grounds,  it 
would  never  have  had  the  devotion  of  a  Gladstone  or  a 
Bright,  or  the  indorsement  of  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons, which  it  has  at  this  very  moment.  Incidentally,  it 
would  not  have  interested  The  North  American,  and  that 
would  have  saved  me  a  lot  of  work  and  several  readers 
irritation. 

But  here  comes  a  more  friendly  critic — about  fifteen  per 
cent.  Home  Ruler,  this  chap.  You're  right  (he  saysj  to  a 
certain  extent.  As  an  economic  proposition,  Ireland  should 
have  self-government.  But  why  go  back  into  history  that 
ought  to  be  forgotten  (says  he)  and  rake  up  old  feuds  and 
old  animosities?  If  Ireland  wins,  it  will  be  because  the  pres- 
ent system  is  wasteful,  unjust  and  generally  impossible  and 
not  because  of  alleged  atrocities  by  James  I  or  Cromwell. 

There's  something  in  that,  too.  But  not  very  much. 
Frankly,  I  took  no  particular  pleasure  in  wandering  around 
in  the  Middle  Ages;  but  as  luck  would  have  it,  that  was  when 
the  "Irish  Question"  was  made.  A  man  who  started  to  trace 
the  development  of  the  protective  tariff  and  ignored  every- 
thing back  of,  say,  1885,  might  produce  a  pleasing  tract,  but 
it  would  not  be  excessively  valuable.  So,  if  we  want  to  know 
why  all  these  problems  have  arisen  in  Ireland  and  why  Eng- 
land must  needs  spend  so  much  time  in  remedial  legislation, 
we've  got  to  go  back  to  the  days  when  the  problems  were 
fashioned.  I  "raked  up"  the  Plantagenets  and  the  Tudors 
and  the  Roundheads  and  all  the  rest  of  them  because  they 
were  the  persons  who  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Irish  Ques- 
tion of  this  year  of  grace  1909.  And  with  all  due  respect 
to  my  critical  friends,  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that  no  one  can 
judge  that  question  fairly  unless  he  does  a  little  "raking"  to 
begin  with. 

As  to  old  "animosities" — bless  your  hearts,  it  was  ani- 
mosities that  folks  lived  on  (and  died  from)  in  those  iron 
17 


258     THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


days.  Once  you  take  up  the  historical  prologue — and  you've 
got  to  do  it  to  be  fair  with  yourself  in  studying  the  matter — • 
you  can  no  more  dodge  the  prevailing  animosities  than  you 
can  dodge  raindrops.  Personally,  I  never  tried  to  dodge 
them.  They  interest  me,  just  as  do  any  other  facts  which 
have  a  bearing  upon  the  subject  I  am  endeavoring  to  treat. 

For  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  these  "animosities" 
were  the  mere  temporary  results  of  racial  and  religious  strife; 
if  they  were,  God  forbid  that  any  one  should  rake  them  up. 
But  the  present  problem,  says  our  friend,  is  purely  an  eco- 
nomic proposition.  That's  a  good,  safe  word,  isn't  it — 
economic?  Very  well,  I  am  for  it;  with  the  added  remark 
that  the  very  "animosities"  of  old,  which  all  of  us  regret  and 
deplore,  constitute  one  of  the  strongest  factors  in  the  eco- 
nomic situation  of  today.  Landlordism,  the  "congested  dis- 
tricts," the  folly  and  injustice  of  Dublin  Castle  government 
— whence  came  these  flowers  of  misrule?  The  seeds  were 
planted  in  the  stirring  up  of  those  very  "animosities"  which 
we  are  on  on  account  to  mention,  but  which,  it  seems,  are 
to  be  accepted  as  the  products  of  some  sort  of  miraculous 
growth,  without  beginning  and  with  very  little  chance  of 
ending. 

There  are  those,  I  know,  who  cannot  read  the  records  of 
three  or  four  hundred  years  ago  without  wanting  to  go  out 
and  lick  the  opposition.  I  envy  them  their  activity  of  mind 
and  passionate  adherence  to  conviction,  and  if  I  have  offended 
any  such,  let  this  be  my  assurance  that  I  had  no  such  inten- 
tion. For  there  were  two  reasons  for  the  brief  record  which 
I  made  of  past  events.  One  was,  as  explained,  to  elucidate 
in  some  measure  the  questions  of  to-day  to  which  they  gave 
rise;  the  other  was  to  contrast  the  present  with  the  past — to 
bring  into  relief  the  bright  prospect  of  a  nation  united,  peace- 
ful and  prosperous  against  that  dark  background  of  greed 
and  intolerance. 

But  even  granting  that  I  was  animated  by  no  ulterior 
— or  shall  we  say  Ulsterior? — motives,  there  are  those  who 
complain  that  the  historical  references  were  unfair,  tending 
to  accuse  one  side  and  excuse  the  other.  Glancing  over  them, 
I  am  not  moved  to  confess  any  such  coloring  of  the  record, 
despite  obvious  defects  due  to  haste  and  the  limitations  of 


POSTSCRIPT  259 

space,  for  I  observe  that  virtually  every  quotation  I  used  was 
from  an  authority  associated  with  the  side  which  protests. 
Froude,  Gladstone,  Green,  Lecky,  Goldwin  Smith — none  of 
these,  surely,  can  be  accused  of  narrow-minded  hostility  to 
the  English  element  in  Ireland.  Nor  would  any  sane  man 
attempt  to  maintain  that  one  side  monopolized  the  crime  and 
violence,  while  the  other  side  monopolized  all  the  virtues. 
The  story  of  those  dark  days,  in  truth,  is  a  story  of  blood 
and  oppression,  of  ruthless  attack  and  savage  reprisal,  and 
the  scars  were  deep  on  both  sides;  but  the  fact  remains  that 
the  general,  permanent  effect,  which  alone  justifies  the  his- 
torical discussion,  was  to  lay  upon  the  great  mass  of  the  Irish 
people  a  burden  of  poverty  and  misrule  from  which  they  are 
to-day  entitled  to  relief. 

And  here's  another  type  of  critic.  He  is  familiar  with 
tne  course  of  events,  and  inclined,  apparently,  to  be  friendly 
to  the  Home  Rule  cause,  but  he  asks  rather  warmly  why 
England's  treatment  of  Ireland  to-day  should  be  condemned 
as  mercilessly  as  that  of  past  centuries.  "Why,"  he  says, 
"do  you  ignore  all  the  costly  reforms  of  the  last  generation? 
What  other  country  has  ever  undertaken  such  revolutionary 
works  of  progress  as  England  has  undertaken  in  Ireland? 
Your  purpose  seems  to  be  not  to  remark  and  aid  that  prog- 
ress, but  to  stir  up  fresh  hatred  of  England." 

This  rather  saddens  me.  It  really  does.  Because  it  is 
a  condemnation  of  the  one  quality  which  I  aimed  to  achieve 
in  my  articles — clearness.  I  went  to  Ireland  this  summer, 
after  a  lapse  of  seven  years,  expressly  to  record  the  remark- 
able improvements  wrought  through  legislation,  and  I  was 
under  the  pleasing  impression  that  I  had  described  and  dis- 
cussed those  improvements,  and  applauded  that  legislation, 
to  the  extent  of  an  almost  scandalous  number  of  columns. 
While  the  fact  is  of  no  public  interest,  since  my  fairness  in 
this  regard  is  questioned,  I  may  say  that  I  have  a  rather 
strong  predilection  for  England;  that  I  have  more  friends  in 
England  than  in  Ireland,  and  that  I  consider  England, 
through  her  abler  statesmen,  has  worked  manfully  during 
recent  years  to  undo  the  wrongs  of  centuries.  Yet  continued 
condemnation  of  the  system  of  government  is  perfectly  justi- 
fied.   If  for  no  other  reason,  let  it  be  because  no  reform 


26o      THE  DEMAND  FOR  HOME  RULE 


worth  while  was  ever  won  without  agitation.  This  involves 
criticism  from  which  a  tinge  of  bitterness  is  inseparable,  but 
when  it  descends  to  unreasoning  hatred,  it  may  well  be 
ignored,  because  it  is  ineffective.  We  don't  forget,  by  the 
way — and  we  urge  the  excited  opponents  of  Home  Rule  not 
to  forget — that  public  opinion  in  England,  as  reflected  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  is  strongly  for  rendering  political  jus- 
tice to  Ireland. 

To  keep  these  remarks  from  extending  to  the  length  of 
the  original  articles,  let  us  mention  only  one  more  critic.  He 
objects  to  our  referring  to  the  "Irish"  demand  for  Home 
Rule,  because,  he  says,  it  is  merely  a  factional  demand. 
"Why  don't  you  give  Ulster's  side  of  the  dispute?"  he  asks. 
"Isn't  Ulster  entitled  to  a  show?"  Ulster's  side,  Unionism, 
is  easily  given.  It  is  opposition  to  Home  Rule.  It  is  the 
negation  of  all  that  is  represented  in  the  movement  for  self- 
government.  As  for  giving  Ulster  a  "show,"  no  fair- 
minded  man  would  urge  less.  It  is  justly  entitled  to  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  of  representation  in  the  government ;  it  has  con- 
trolled one  hundred  per  cent,  too  long. 

I  take  leave  of  the  subject  now  with  the  hope  that  all 
of  us  have  learned  something  by  the  discussion.  I  have,, 
anyway,  and  the  hardest  jolts  from  my  critics  have  been 
accepted  cheerfully.  Upon  the  main  question  we  do  not 
agree,  but  I  am  as  certain  as  I  can  be  of  anything  that  the 
future  will  bring  us  nearer  together.  For  Home  Rule  is 
coming;  the  public  opinion  . of  Ireland,  of  England,  of  the 
British  colonies,  of  the  United  States,  is  for  it,  and  will  pre- 
vail. And  when  Home  Rule  does  come,  and  has  spread 
peace  and  brotherhood  and  justice  where  strife  has  too  long 
ruled,  its  opponents  will  no  more  condemn  the  new  order 
than  they  condemn  the  other  reforms  which  they  fought  and 
then  embraced. 


INDEX 


Act  of  1870,  17,  112:  of  18S1,  112;  Ash- 
bourne, 113;  of  1886,  113;  of  1S91.  113; 
of  1896,  113;  of  1909,  115,  140,  141;  of 
Edward  III,   used  in  coercion,  95. 

Agricultural  laborers,  aid  to,  183; 
wages  of,  234. 

Agriculture,  in  1902,  5;  chief  industry, 
13;  difficulties  of,  17;  schemes  to 
improve,  136. 

American  aid  to  Irish,  32,  42,  169; 
sympathy  with  Home  Rule,  213,  260; 
revolution  inspired  Irish,  201. 

Australia,  Home  Rule  in,  245. 

Balfour,  A.  J.,  causes  creation  of 
Congested  Districts  Board,  127;  on 
destruction  of  Irish  industries,  241. 

Bessborough  Commission,  26,  79. 

Birrell,  Augustine,  Chief  Secretary, 
Land  Purchase  Act  introduced  by. 
115,  141,  142. 

Boers,  Irish  sympathy  with,  3,  9S. 

Bright,  John.  24. 

Bryce,  James,  on  Irish  government, 
222. 

Butt,  Isaac,  216. 

Canada,  Home  Rule  won  by,  245-247; 
was  disloyal,  246. 

Castlebar,  congestion  near,  80;  an 
incident  of  coercion  in,  101. 

Castlerea,  54,  80,  144. 

Catholics,  laws  against,  197,202;  re- 
gained some  rights,  202;  vote,  203; 
emancipation  of,  211,  212;  course  of, 
in  local  self-government,  251-254. 

Cavendish,  Lord,  murder  of,  217. 

Chamberlain,  Joseph,  on  government 
of  Ireland,  222,  228. 

Charles  I,  9. 

Chief  Secretaries,  all  Protestant,  223; 
powers  of,  230-232;  some  good.  232. 

Christianity,  early  Irish,  189-190. 

Church,  established  Anglican,  210; 
disestablishment,  215.  216. 

Clare  Island,  congestion  on,  30; 
Transformed,  76,  133-135. 

Crime,  agrarian,  13,  17,  26,  217;  statis- 
tics of,  in  England,  Scotland  and 
Ireland.  235-238. 

Crimes  Act,  coercion  enforced  by.  93, 
94,  96.    (See  Coercion.) 

Coercion,  4;  described,  81-90,  91-102; 
a  list  of  prisoners  under,  92-93;  en- 
forced. 95,  217.  221,  243. 

Colleges,  in  National  University,  177. 
(See  Education.) 

Compulsory  sale,  necessary,  115,  140. 


141;  under  Birrell  Act,  115,  140.  (See 
Land  Purchase,  Landlordism.) 

Confiscations  of  land,  8,  9,  14,  115.  117; 
under  Mary,  193;  under  Elizabeth, 
193;  under  James  I,  193;  under 
Cromwell,  9,  14,  115,  194.  195;  under 
William  III,  195.    (See  Landlordism.) 

Congested  Districts,  described  by 
William  O'Brien,  30-35;  described, 
72-80;  extent  of,  72;  map  of.  74;  offi- 
cial reports  on,  74,  79,  80,  115;  im- 
proved conditions  in,  126-173;  de- 
fined, 128,  129;  causes  of  poverty  in, 
130;  trip  through,  144-173. 

Congested  Districts  Board.  Dillon 
estate  bought  by,  51;  improved  by, 
64,  65;  Clare  Island  improved  by, 
76,  133-135;  work  of,  126-173;  creation 
of,  127;  powers  of,  128,  131.  132;  aids 
to  industries  by,  136-140;  some  es- 
tates improved  by,  154;  improve- 
ments encouraged  by,  156-181.  (See 
Congested  Districts,  Land  Pur- 
chase.) 

Connaught,  migration  of  laborers 
from,  7S;  Irish  driven  to.  If);..  (See 
Congested  Districts.) 

Conquests  of  Ireland.  190-196. 

Constabulary,  34;  arrests  by.  82.  84, 
85;  powers  of,  under  coercion,  9-1-96, 
99;  crimes  committed  by  members 
of,  99.  100;  at  an  eviction,  11S-125; 
number  and  cost  of.  234-238. 

Cork,  30,  129.  142. 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  misrule  denounced 

by,  204,  205. 
Cost  of  government,  232-238. 
Cottage  industries,  138. 
County  Councils,  24S-264. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  9.  14,  115.  194,  196. 
Davis,  Thomas,  212.  243. 
Davitt,  Michael,  216. 
De  Freyne  estate,  62-66.  69-71,  84,  87, 

154. 

Devon  Commission,  13,  14,  112. 
Dillon  estate,  50,  61,  64-66,  69-71.  136, 
154. 

Dillon,  John,  M.  P.,  on  land  prob- 
lem. 107-111.  126;  on  National  Uni- 
versity, 178. 

Dillon,  John  Blake,  212. 

Disestablishment.  215.  216. 

Disloyalty  in  Ireland,  3,  4;  causes 
of,  81;  could  be  overcome,  M;  due 
to  misgovernment.  98;  paralleled  in 
Canada.  215- 247. 


262 


INDEX 


Donegal,  congestion  in,  30,  129;  mi- 
gration of  laborers  from,  79;  fish- 
ing industries  in,  137. 

Doran,  Henry,  171.    (See  Preface.) 

Drainage  improvements,  154.  (See 
Congested  Districts  Board,  work 
of.) 

Dublin  Castle,  coercion  by,  82-102; 
government  by,  228-247;  differs  from 
English  and  Scotch  system,  229, 
230;  public  has  no  control  over, 
230-232;  departments  under,  231,  232; 
extravagance  of,  232-238;  overtaxa- 
tion, 233;  compared  with  England 
and'  Scotland,  233,  234;  Constabu- 
lary, 234-238;  system  a  failure,  239- 
247.    (See  Home  Rule.) 

Dufferin,  Lord,  on  Fenianism,  215; 
on  destruction  of  Irish  industries, 
242. 

Duffy,  Charles  Gavan,  212,  214. 
Dunraven,   Earl   of,   on  misgovern- 

ment,  228. 
Economic    conditions,    5,    21,  103-106. 
(See    Poverty,    Population,  Land- 
lordism, Congested  Districts,  Emi- 
gration.) 

Educational  reform,  174-180,  184. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  plantations  and 
confiscations  by,  8,  14,  193;  insur- 
rections under,  193. 

Emigration,  5,  13,  23,  24,  36,  47,  241. 

Emmet,  Robert,  210,  243. 

Eviction,  16,  18,  23,  26,  56-60;  a  vic- 
tim's story  of,  60-64;  practice  of, 
68,  69;  De  Freyne  estate,  84;  after 
the  Famine,  112,  212,  213;  descrip- 
tion of  an,  118-125;  victims  of,  re- 
stored to  lands,  182,  183. 

Extravagance  of  government,  232- 
238.    (See  Dublin  Castle.) 

Famine,  12,  22,  112,  212,  213. 

Fenianism,  24,  214,  215. 

Fishing  industry,  aided  by  Congest- 
ed Districts  Board,  132,  137. 

Fitzgerald,  Lord  Edward,  204. 

Fitzgibbon.  John.  54-71,  81-90,  145,  146. 

Foxford  woolen  mills,  138. 

Free  speech,  suppression  of,  5,  94; 
imprisonment  for,  81-90.  (See  Co- 
ercion.) 

Galway,  129,  137. 

Garrison,   English,   sway  of,  219-247. 

Gladstone,  12,  17,  24,  210;  on  Fenian- 
ism, 215;  negotiations  with  Parnell, 
217;  Home  Rule  bill  of  1886.  217; 
Home  Rule  bill  of  1893,  217.  (See 
Acts.) 

Grattan,  Henry,  201-203,  206. 

Grazers,  lands  held  by,  40-53,  67-69, 
116,  117.    (See  Landlordism.) 

History,  of  land  problem,  6-10.  116; 
of  Ireland,  188-216.  (See  Land  Prob- 
lem, Congested  Districts,  Evic- 
tions.) 

Home  Rule,  sentiment  for,  increased 
by  land  purchase,  110;  demand  for, 


185-260;  Redmond  on,  185;  economic 
reforms  no  substitute  for,  185,  186; 
defined,  186,  187;  historic  basis  of 
demand  for,  188-218;  Parnell,  Davitt 
and,  216;  Gladstone's  bills  for,  217; 
need  for,  219-247;  real  Unionism  in,' 
244;  in  the  colonies,  245-247;  Can- 
ada's fight  for,  246;  tested  in  local 
affairs,  248-254;  approved  by  Local 
Government  Board,  250,  251.  (See 
Dublin  Castle.) 

House  of  Commons,  rejects  Home 
Rule  in  1886,  217;  passes  Home  Rule 
bill  in  1893,  218;  Irish  Party  in,  227;. 
for  Home  Rule,  247. 

Houses,  improved,  154-173;  for  labor- 
ers, 183. 

Imprisonment  under  coercion,  81-102. 

Improvement  in  conditions,  46,  47.  51, 
103-173;  described  by  John  Dillon, 
108-111;  by  Congested  Districts 
Board,  132-173;  plans  of,  159-161. 
(See  Congested  Districts  Board, 
Land  Purchase.) 

Incumbered  estates,  25,  112,  116. 

Industries,  aids  to,  136-140;  destruc- 
tion of,  241,  242. 

Insurrections,  under  Elizabeth,  193; 
of  1641,  194;  in  nineteenth  century, 
243. 

Invasions,  7-10;  by  Norsemen,  190; 
by  Strongbow,  191;  by  Henry  II, 
191;  by  the  Tudors,  192,  193;  by 
Cromwell,  194,  195;  by  William  III, 
195. 

Irish  Parliamentary  Party,  174,  227. 

James  I,  confiscations  under,  9,  14. 

Jury,  silenced  by  a  magistrate,  97; 
trial  by,  denied,  5,  82,  94. 

Kerry,  129;  an  eviction  in,  118-125. 

Kiltimagh,  40-53,  139,  168-173. 

Land  Acts,  17,  21,  24,  26,  33,  112,  113, 
115,  140,  141. 

Land  Commission,  27,  28,  70. 

Landlordism  system  of,  described, 
11,  13,  16-20;  effects  of,  21-28;  Will- 
iam O'Brien  on,  29-35;  absentee,  38; 
effects  of,  40-65;  a  victim's  story  of, 
60-64;  a  village  under,  162-167.  (See 
Congested  Districts,  Eviction,  Ten- 
ants, Landlords,  Land  Problem, 
Land  Purchase.) 

Landlords,  who  won't  sell,  141; 
against  Home  Rule,  224.  (See 
Landlordism.) 

Land  League,  26,  69,  216. 

Land  Problem,  history  of,  6-10,  21-28; 
making  of,  11-15;  history  of,  by 
Devon  Commission,  14;  summary 
of,  15;  described  by  John  Fitzgib- 
bon, 67-71;  solution  of,  103-173;  John 
Dillon,  107-111;  history  of,  111-117. 
(See  Landlordism.) 
Land  Purchase,  advocated  by  Will- 
iam O'Brien,  33;  of  Dillon  estate, 
51;  denounced  by  coercion  magis- 
trate, 97;  Wyndham  Act,  106;  Ash- 


INDEX 


263 


bourne  Act,  113;  other  acts,  113-115; 
illustrated  on  Clare  Island,  133-135; 
success  of,  132-173;  Dillon  estate, 
135,  136,  154;  woman  tells  of,  149-151; 
acts,  182,  217.  (See  Land  Acts-, 
Landlordism.) 

Leases,  forced  on  tenants,  26.  (See 
Landlordism.) 

Leitrim,  9,  30,  129. 

Literature,  early  Irish,  189,  190. 

Local  government,  Home  Rule  in, 
248-254;  act  providing,  249. 

Lords  Lieutenant,  coercion  enforced 
by,  94,  95;  have  all  been  Protes- 
tants, 223;  functions  of,  230;  salary 
of,  233. 

Magistrates,  powers  of,  under  co- 
ercion, 81-102. 

Manufacturing,  encouragement  of. 
138,  139. 

Massacres,  8,  9,  194. 

Mayo,  30,  40-53,  SO,  129,  137,  144-173. 

Middlemen,   14.     (See  Landlordism.) 

Migration  of  laborers,  5,  32,  36,  42, 
77-80.    (See  Congested  Districts.) 

Misgovernment,  3;  denounced  by  T. 
W.  Russell,  M.  P.,  96,  208-247.  (See 
Coercion,  Dublin  Castle,  Landlord- 
ism.) 

Mitchel,  John,  212,  243. 

Morley,  Lord,  Chief  Secretary,  88. 

Morris,  Judge,  coercion  decisions  by, 

84,  87-90,  97. 
Murphy,  Joseph,  M.  P.,  119,  120,  123, 

125. 

Nationalists,  in  local  government 
bodies,  251-254.  (See  Irish  Parlia- 
mentary Party.) 

National  University,  178-180. 

Newspapers,  prosecuted  under  co- 
ercion, 94. 

Nineteenth  century,  history  of,  208- 
217. 

North  American,  first  visit  to  Ire- 
land by  correspondent  of,  1-102; 
second  visit,  103-260.  (See  Preface 
and  Postscript.) 

O'Brien,  Smith,  212,  243. 

O'Brien,  William,  M.  P.,  29-35. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  211,  212. 

O'Hara,  Rev.  Denis,  40-53,  139,  168-173. 

O'Kelly,  Conor,  M.  P.,  89. 

Pale,  English,  191.  (See  Garrison, 
History  of  Ireland.) 

Parish  committees,  139.  140,  160,  161. 

Parliament,  Irish.  12;  freed,  202,  203; 
destroyed.  205-207;  industries  fos- 
tered by,  242. 

Parnell,  Charles  Stuart,  216,  217. 

Penal  laws,  14,  197-202. 

Phoenix  Park  murders.  217. 

Pigott,  Richard,  forgeries  by.  217. 

Plantations,  8,  9.  14,  115.  (See  Con- 
fiscations, Invasions,  History.) 

Political  conditions,  4.  5,  103-106;  divi- 
sions. 223,  224. 

Pollock,  Allan,  68,  69. 


Population,  5,  24,  212,  234,  240.  (See 
Congested  Districts.) 

Poverty,  43-47,  73,  129,  131.  (See  Con- 
gested Districts). 

Presbyterians,  210,  215,  216. 

Prisons,  cost  of,  233;  unused,  237. 

Prosperity,  under  land  purchase,  184. 

Protestants,  slain  in  rebellion  of  1641, 
194;  joined  revolt,  203;  Nationalist 
leaders  among,  212,  243;  in  local 
government,  251-254. 

Quaker  Nationalist,  a,  228,  229. 

Rebellion,  of  1798,  205;  of  1848,  212. 
(See  Fenianism.) 

Redmond,  John  E.,  M.  P.,  on  Home 
Rule,  185;  party  leader,  227.  (See 
Introduction.) 

Religious  prejudice  passing,  3;  no 
discrimination  under  local  self-gov- 
ernment, 251-254;  religious  question, 
223,  225,  226,  255-260. 

Rents,  arbitrary  raising  of,  18,  26; 
reduced  by  courts,  27,  28,  113.  (Se« 
Landlordism,  Eviction,  Congested 
Districts.) 

Repeal  of  the  Union,  agitation  for, 
211. 

Roscommon,  30,  56-60,  60-66,  129,  146, 
144-161. 

Rosebery,  Lord,  on  misgovernment, 

228. 

Russell,  T.  W.,  M.  P.,  on  landlord- 
ism, 3,  20;  on  misgovernment,  12; 
on  poverty,  21;  on  Land  Commis- 
sion, 27;  on  coercion,  96;  assault  on, 
while  speaking,  101,  102. 

Scotch  settlers.  (See  Plantations, 
Ulster.) 

Scotland,  government  of,  compared 

with  Ireland,  233,  234. 
Sligo,  30,  129. 
Smith,  Goldwin,  198,  204. 
South  Africa,  Home  Rule  in,  245,  254. 
Stephens,  James,  214. 
Strongbow,  7,  191. 

Stuarts,  confiscations  under  the,  9, 
10,  193,  194. 

Swinford,  80. 

Taxation,  233,  243. 

Tenant  League,  214. 

Tenant  right,  17,  24.  (See  Act  of  1870, 
Ulster  Custom.) 

Tenants,  improvements  of,  seized  by 
landlords,  67:  become  land  owners, 
113-115,  133-135,  149-151;  help  them- 
selves, 155-161.  (See  Landlordism, 
Eviction,  Land  Acts.  Land  League, 
Congested  Districts.) 

Three  F's  established,  26.  112.  (See 
Land  Acts.) 

Tone.  Wolfe.  203  ,  204  .  225. 

Trinity  College.  Dublin.  174-178. 

Tudor  Invasions,  9.  10.  192.  193. 

Ulster,  plantations,  9,  193;  Custom, 
15,  20;  prosperity  of,  224,  225;  in  re- 
bellion. 225;  conflict  of  tendencies 


264 


INDEX 


in,  226;  industries  of,  242,  243;  emi- 
gration from,  242;  parallel  of,  in 
the  colonies,  245. 

Under  Secretaries,  few  Catholic.  223; 
powers  of,  230. 

Union,  Act  of,  denounced  by  Glad- 
stone, 12,  206-208;  evils  of,  211;  a 
failure,  218.    (See  Dublin  Castle.) 

Unionists,  224;  fairly  treated  in  local 
self-government,  252-254. 

United  Irish  League,  5,  52,  227. 


University  of  Ireland,  National,  174- 

178. 

West,  problem  of  the,  30-39,  77.  (See 

Congested  Districts.) 
Westport,  35-39,  80. 
Wexford,  7,  9,  194. 
William  III,  9,  195. 

Wyndham,  George,  Chief  Secretary, 

88;  Land  Act  by,  106,  114. 
Young.  Arthur,  on  Landlordism,  51. 
Young  Ireland  movement,  212. 


